EDITOR'S NOTE: Pablo Melgar, a member of the Guatemala national team from 2002-07, now works as a TV reporter for Antigua Sports. Here, he offers his thoughts on the Guatemalan perspective heading into Friday's match.
It’s been a never ending story for Guatemalan soccer: We begin every round of qualifying with the hope of making our first trip to a FIFA World Cup. But, as usual, there’s a point in every round that all Guatemalan fans begin to get a bit extreme as we play out the possibilities that would get us through to the next round.
This Friday we face the US national team at Estadio Nacional Mateo Flores (10 pm ET; beIN Sports, NBC Universo). The home of Los Chapines, as well as CONCACAF Champions League regular CSD Municipal, will not be the same: Though capacity is 30,000 fans, the Commission for Disaster Reduction (CONRED) has approved only 18,000 tickets to be sold. So, if we thought that the crowd would play an important role on Friday’s game, we will have to adjust our expectations, realizing that the pressure from the stands will be relatively lessened, despite the hope some still have for this renewed Guatemalan national team.
No big names on our squad, save for an aged Carlos Ruiz and Colorado Rapids midfielder Marco Pappa. Our expectation is that he can continue to step up as a natural leader, but we know we can't put the burden on Marco in every game that the virtuous leftie plays for Guatemala.
What do we expect of this game? It's one we can't afford to lose. Especially if we want to remain on track in our search for that first berth in the Hex. Right now, after the loss at home against Trinidad & Tobago, we see the US as our direct route to qualification.
Two very important games are in front of us, especially tonight's: Even with a positive result, we still have a difficult away game on Tuesday (7pm ET; ESPN2, UniMás, UDN); But, if we lose again at home, we will practically say goodbye to any chance for Russia in 2018.
