Luis Palma was the man of the moment for Honduras last week as the Celtic winger scored twice to sink Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League quarter-final.
The 2-0 lead gave Palma’s Honduras a great chance of progressing to meet Alistair Johnston’s Canada in the semi-final after the Celtic winger was deadly against Mexico in the first leg.
Coming on as a substitute in that match, Palma scored with his first touch to put Honduras 1-0 up and then sealed the win with a late second goal to give Honduras a healthy advantage for the follow-up match in the Estadio Azteca.
However, after holding out for 42 minutes, Raul Jimenez opened the scoring before a late collapse saw Honduras concede a further three goals after Henry Martin (72 & 90+7) and Jorge Sanchez (85) sunk Palma and his teammates for the second year in a row.
Luis Palma’s lack of Celtic game time exposed for Honduras vs Mexico
After praising Palma for his first-leg Honduras performance, boss Reinaldo Rueda pointed the finger at the Celtic winger after he was exposed by the Mexicans as the weak link in the early morning defeat.
Rueda told Deportes TVC, “For all we know from the previous match at the Azteca, the altitude is hard for Luis when he comes with rhythm and today without rhythm it was going to be harder for him.
“He played a good half but the full-back he had overcame him and he was left alone with Rosales and that’s where Mexico attacked us a lot.
“We had Obregón, who is a striker, a goal scorer, and to stop that full-back and the offensive depth to accompany Yustin Arboleda, but unfortunately he didn’t get into the game and was unbalanced.
Luis Palma’s Honduras stats have a familiar Celtic feel to them
Palma was hooked at halftime after being given the nod to start for Honduras against Mexico.
Rated at 6.2 by Fotmob, the Celtic winger was largely anonymous in the 45 minutes he was on the pitch.
With just 13 touches of the ball, Palma made just four passes with three of those finding a Honduran teammate.
However, defensively Palma won five duels, made one clearance and won two out of two tackles as he tried to keep the Mexicans at bay.
Unfortunately, the Celtic winger didn’t create any chances or had any shots on goal as Honduras crashed out of the CONCACAF Nations League at the same stage to the same team for the second season in a row.
