Honduras News - Daily News about Honduras

Ivan Guerrero has been described by his coaches as a consummate professional. Perhaps that’s because the Earthquakes left winger doesn’t take the concept for granted.

“It is difficult to be a professional in Honduras,” he said.

Guerrero joined the country’s renowned Club Deportivo Motagua in the capital Tegucigalpa when he was 19. But he also had to find construction jobs during the offseason to help supplement his income.

Yet, he did whatever he could to fulfill his childhood dream of being a soccer pro.

“Once you get a chance you must take advantage right at that moment because you might not get another chance,” Guerrero said.

When the last-place Quakes face the Chicago Fire today at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill., they will look for Guerrero to help them find the consistency that has been lacking this season.

“We missed him,” Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop said of his absence earlier this month when he helped Honduras advance in World Cup qualifying rounds.

In his fourth year in Major League Soccer, Guerrero has been a calming presence, previously for the Fire, and now the Quakes. But the league also has provided him with stability after years of toiling in his native land.

He hasn’t wasted the opportunities, becoming one of Honduras’ national team leaders and a respected MLS player who makes $147,000 a year, according to the players union. (He also has played in England and Uruguay).

“His energy, work
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rate and enthusiasm are infectious,” Yallop said.

Growing up in Catacamas, three hours from the capital, Guerrero’s family lived like most Hondurans who scraped by in an economically depressed country. The boys of his city played in the street without shoes dreaming of making soccer a career.

As for many of Latin America’s poor “it was a great way to escape and make a better life for yourself,” Guerrero said.

The left-footed midfielder has used his earnings to help put three younger sisters through college and support his wife and three children.

Former Chicago coach Dave Sarachan immediately saw something special in the 5-foot-7 Guerrero when scouting him in 2005.

“It meant so much for him to perform” for Honduras, he said. “Sometimes they look the part but don’t really back it up.”

Guerrero, 30, represented Honduras in the 2000 Olympics but hopes to help his country reach the World Cup finals for only the second time in history. The country is buoyed by the way some Hondurans have played abroad. Guerrero remains circumspect.

“They’ve talked before, ‘This is going to be the year for Honduras,’”‰” he said of the building excitement. “It doesn’t matter until we get there.”

The country’s only appearance came in 1982 in Spain when Guerrero was 5. Honduras resumes its campaign in August with the third round of CONCACAF qualifiers. The country is in a tough round-robin group against Canada, Jamaica and Mexico, with only two advancing to the final round.

In the meantime, Guerrero wants to help the Quakes establish themselves in MLS. He said playing in San Jose has been the most difficult challenge in his career, but he has “confidence and faith that things are going to get better.” The same sort of belief that helped forge him a soccer career.

Notes: Guerrero’s return last week at the beginning of a five-game trip helped. And now the Quakes expect to have forward Kei Kamara back after almost a month with Sierra Leone’s national team. Veteran defender Nick Garcia also is expected to be in the lineup today after missing four games because of a sprained knee ligament. … But San Jose still doesn’t have striker Gavin Glinton, who has yet to recover after having a hernia surgery last month. Yallop said he isn’t sure when his former starter will return. … And the recently acquired Jovan Kirovski fractured his right foot during a collision with Amir Lowery in practice. He will be lost at least two more weeks.