Posted on 09/30/2009 12:26:49 AM PDT by csvset
Chaos in Honduras has not created such safety risks as to force the movement of a scheduled World Cup qualifying match against the United States, FIFA officials said here Tuesday.
Hours after Honduran officials protested any notion of moving their October 10 home qualifier against the US squad, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said the crisis would not force relocation of the crucial match.
FIFA does reserve the right to revisit the issue should conditions change.
The issue became a concern after Mexican side Toluca announced Monday it would not travel to Honduras for a CONCACAF Champions League match, citing safety concerns in the wake of riots and military crackdowns.
But Toluca made a reversal on Tuesday and said it would travel to San Pedro Sula for the weekend match against Marathon.
With two matches remaining in the hunt for three North American berths at the 2010 South Africa World Cup, the Americans top the table on 16 points, one ahead of Mexico and three better than Honduras with Costa Rica on 12.
The fourth place team will face South America's fifth-place team in a playoff to determine another trip to South Africa.

© 2007 AFP Gianluigi Guercia
This sounds like good news for Honduras.
The criminal is locked up in the Brazilian embassy.
International soccer’s sort of the sports equivalent of Switzerland. Absent all out war, almost nothing political gets in the way of a world cup qualifier. In the case of Toluca, one of Mexico’s biggest clubs, they probably realized they were safer in Honduras than they are at home.
This is a big game for Honduras. There are six teams in the final group, with the top three going through to the world cup. Honduras is third right now, with a one point lead on Costa Rica, and with two games left. They need this one, and a home crowd’s a big factor.
Zelaya and his anarchists are going to look to cause trouble.
OF COURSE Honduras is SAFE.
They respect the RULE OF LAW more than SERIAL SCUMBAGS Barry and Eric here in the states.
THE CONSTITUTION.
Safer in Honduras than in America with the people running this country.
As long as no US demoRATS come here to see the game, or else they might end up in the Brazilian embassy with zeLAIR :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.