How One Goal Can Unify a Nation

Last year in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, there was a dramatic race to see who would get the three automatic World Cup berths out of North America between the United States, Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica.

In the final two matches before the CONCACAF/COMMEBOL playoff, the United States and Mexico were fighting for the top two positions in CONCACAF while Honduras and Costa Rica were fighting for the final automatic spot in the World Cup.

For Honduras, these next two matches were going to be extremely critical due to the recent political unrest in the country, which started earlier in the year over a voting issue and forced president Manuel Zelaya out of the country as part of the country's constitution.

However, Zelaya remained resilient, and on Sep. 21, Zelaya snuck into Honduras from Costa Rica (where he was exiled) and into the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.

Afterwards, the Honduran regime wanted to get Zelaya out, but Brazil refused to allow him out, and the country went into a state of panic.

But the World Cup qualifier between Honduras and the United States was not cancelled as the two sides met on Oct. 10 at the Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula.

In that match, the stadium was rocking before kickoff, and Honduras took an early lead at the beginning of the second half on a Julio Leon goal.

However, Conor Casey stepped up his game and contributed two goals and got fouled to set up the third and winning goal for the US on a Landon Donovan free kick.

And after a late penalty miss by Carlos Pavon, the United States were able to qualify for the World Cup and paired with a Costa Rican 4-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras were on the verge of being forced into the CONCACAF/COMMEBOL playoff.

The only way that Honduras were to get in was to beat El Salvador and have the US either beat or draw with Costa Rica in the final World Cup qualifier.

In its final World Cup qualifier, Honduras were able to win 1-0 in El Salvador, but the United States were still trailing late 2-1 and were down to 10 men after an injury to defender Oguchi Onyewu.

But in the final minute of injury time, the US won a corner, and on the ensuing corner by Robbie Rogers, defender Jonathan Bornstein went in and headed the ball into the net, tying the match at two, giving Honduras its first World Cup appearance since 1982.

With the goal, Honduras was able to let go of its terrible political situation briefly, as interim president Roberto Micheletti declared a National Holiday and the players celebrated with the fans.

In the last several months, Zelaya has been moved to the Dominican Republic after the political crisis, and Costa Rica was not able to qualify for the World Cup due to a missed offside call against Uruguay in their playoff.

Also, "Honduras Hero" Jonathan Bornstein has become a national hero for his goal in Honduras, and in a friendly against Honduras on Jan. 23, he was cheered for by Honduras every time he touched the ball and constantly cheered for during training by Honduras fans who attended the US winter camp earlier in the month.

Overall, Bornstein's goal shows us that sports can play a major role in society. This goal helped change the course of a nation during a time of political unrest.