New York, 29,5,2020, Friday
El Salvador beat Honduras 6-3 in the 19th FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament. This began to hit the citizens of El Salvador origin living in Honduras. The popular demand to invade Honduras and teach a lesson similar to football in war was gaining momentum in El Salvador. Cricket is played in a handful of countries while the game of football is popular in every continent of the world.
Whether it is Africa or America, Europe or Latin America, there is a kind of passion for football. Held every two years, the FIFA World Cup is the biggest football event. The atmosphere in the stadium becomes tense due to emotion and excitement during a football match. Sometimes there are incidents where supporters get into fights. However, it would be surprising to know that a football match caused a war between the two countries. In the history of football, it is known as football war or soccer war.
The 16th FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament was between the Latin American country of Honduras and El Salvador. The country that wins by an average will have a chance to participate in the World Cup to be held in 190. Honduras and Salvador are both neighbors but relations have always been sour. El Salvador is five times smaller than Honduras in terms of area on the northwestern border of Honduras. In the 20th century, there was ample border between the two countries.
The people of the Mestizo ethnic group moved and lived freely. Large numbers of refugees began arriving in Honduras from El Salvador, especially after 150 AD. Eighty percent of Honduras' population, or one in five, were native to El Salvador. Displaced people of El Salvador descent also became owners of arable land and property in Honduras over time. In 190, more than half a million people came to Honduras from Salvador.
The people of Salvadoran origin in Honduras lived with their identities rather than merging. This often led to violent riots and fights between the two groups. The problem of refugee citizens of El Salvador origin was also a burning question in Honduran politics. In 1903, the Honduran government began the process of stripping people of El Salvador descent of their land rights and property. On the 19th, the border to El Salvador was sealed off and the entry of refugees was stopped. The Honduran government blamed neighboring El Salvador for the growing chaos and intolerance in the country.
On the one hand, the harsh action of the Honduran government created a nationalist atmosphere at home, on the other hand, the people of the neighboring country of El Salvador and the government were incensed by the action of the Honduran government. In this regard, relations between the two countries became tense and the citizens living together began to be harassed. In such a delicate period, the football match between Honduras and El Salvador served to ignite the fire. The first match of the qualifying round was played on June 16 in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. People of El Salvador descent living in Honduras favored the El Salvador football team and provoked local football fans. So the Honduran extremists threw stones at the hotel where the El Salvador football players landed.
Honduras won the first match 1-0 in a tense and tense atmosphere. The result of the match in El Salvador caused Ritsar to mourn. Eighteen-year-old Amelia Bolanos was watching a match on TV in El Salvador. When Honduras striker Roberto Cardano scored in the last minute, he got angry. She had committed suicide by firing her father's licensed gun from the closet. The incident is described in a book called The Soccer War by an American journalist. Four days later, the second match took place in El Salvador, where the Honduran football team was greeted by people throwing rotten eggs and dead rats. The national flag of Honduras was hoisted. The players were escorted to the football field in armored cars.
The armed forces surrounded the football stadium from all sides. Four people were killed in a storm that erupted before a football match began. The Honduras team lost the match 0-4 in a war-torn environment, not a match inside or outside the football ground. The Honduran coach breathed a sigh of relief after the match. The coach kept applauding the players despite losing, saying that if you had won the match you probably wouldn't have survived. The third match of the qualifying round between Honduras and El Salvador was pending. FIFA decided to hold the last match in Mexico City in a neutral place due to tension. The clash on June 8 saw a thorny issue between the two countries.
In the final, El Salvador won the match 3-2, qualifying for the 150th World Cup for the first time. News of El Salvador's defeat to Honduras in a football match spread through the airwaves and began to hit citizens of El Salvador descent in Honduras. The demand to invade Honduras and teach it a lesson similar to football in the war gained momentum in El Salvador. The El Salvador government came under so much pressure that it finally attacked Honduras on July 15 with tanks and fighter jets. Honduras also responded to the attack. A 100-hour war broke out between the two countries in which more than 2,000 people were killed. Women were raped and hundreds were left homeless. As international pressure mounted, both countries agreed to declare a ceasefire. Both countries have been knocked out by the International Court of Justice on the issue of refugees.
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