GUATEMALA CITY -- Ask those who follow the Central American game closely, and most will say that few people know the region's football quite as intimately as Ramon Maradiaga.

The Honduran has enjoyed a privileged journey through the zone, and the world, over the last three decades, first as a player, and more recently in his capacity as a head coach at the club and international levels.On the field, he authored a stand out performance in the 1982 World Cup in Spain, during a career spanning three decades in Central America, and Europe as well.

It's precisely that in-depth understanding of regional and international football that catalyzed the hiring of the Honduran coach last month by CSD Municipal, the historic Guatemalan club that has brought Maradiaga back to the land of eternal spring, after the Honduran led the Guatemalan national team through the World Cup qualification processes of Germany 2006 and South Africa 2010.

"I'm happy for this challenge, with an institution like Municipal, the winningest team in Guatemala, that indisputably will always require the commitment of being able to put the team at the top of the table," Maradiaga told CONCACAF.com in an exclusive interview.

Settled once again in Guatemala, Maradiaga will now look for yet another title for the Rojos, who have a record 29 Guatemalan championships to their name, to go with eight domestic cups and a number of international titles, all among their impressive collection of trophies.It's just that history that creates high expectations for this team, goals of which Maradiaga is well aware.

"The truth is, aside from exciting us, it motivates us, because I'm just getting to know the club now," the coach said. "I had some knowledge before from watching games, from the story that I'd managed to put together, but now, inside the institution, you realize that the club is well organized internally, and that's why it has had the successes that it's been able to achieve.

"My expectation is always to look for the championship. With the conditions I found on arriving, and having found a very good base of players in good condition, feed that expectation even more.In that sense I feel committed and at the same time I can identify with the objectives of Municipal in terms of getting the championships they aspire to."

Given his ample international experience, it's only reasonable that Maradiaga is aiming not only for the Guatemalan domestic title, but also has set his sights on some regional goals. That begins with earning another shot for Municipal at the CONCACAF Champions League, a tournament which the Honduran plans to use to demonstrate the improving level of Central American club football.

"It's a challenge for everyone, the club, the coach, the players, because it's a stage to which very few have access," said Maradiaga. "You have to know how to take advantage of it, knowing that you'll face rivals from the U.S., Mexico, and the Caribbean, with their characteristics that can demand much more than what you find here in Guatemalan football."

Despite what the coach labels as differences in preparation and budgets compared to other parts of the region, Maradiaga has noticed an improvement in the level of club football in Central America. The Honduran believes that with proper organization and an adequate game plan, Central American teams are capable of overcoming any opponent in the zone.

"[Central American football is] improving.We've seen teams that have made matches difficult for teams from MLS and the Mexican league," the coach observed. "There's a gap that's closing, and without a doubt that depends on the work that can be done by institutions in each country.

"Football is built upon 90 minutes during which you have to know how to resolve a lot of inequalities, in logistics, in facilities, in preparation. I think the matches in the Champions League, with Mexican clubs, with American clubs, and the rest of the countries of CONCACAF, are beneficial."

One of the primary beneficiaries of the internationalization of Central American football has been Honduras, Maradiaga's native land, and a country known not only regionally, but internationally as well, for producing talent. Interestingly, the coach attributes Honduran success in producing soccer players less to development at the club level than to the equal and inclusive social dynamic at work in his country.

"It's a blessed land, which yields generations with excesses of skill, that may not have much development at an early age, but as adults manage to develop based on their own abilities," the long-time Honduran national team coach explained. "But I think that the most important factor is that Honduras has had the virtue of being able to generate the human capital, and include people of different races, of color.All that helps us and is the difference I can see."

If there's one man capable of diagnosing the challenges of Central American football and diagramming solutions, it may be Maradiaga. With experience as a player and coach in Honduras, El Salvador, and now once again in Guatemala, the Honduran has become for all intents and purposes an honorary citizen and advocate of the entire region.

Largely for that reason, Maradiaga still dreams of ultimately guiding a Central American national team to a World Cup. In 2001, with his native Honduras, he found himself on the brink of a World Cup, when the Catrachos were eliminated on the final day of qualifying and finished fourth in the Hexagonal on the road to Korea/Japan 2002. Four years later, when four teams qualified from the region for Germany 2006, Maradiaga and his Guatemalan side finished the Hexagonal in fifth place.

"One of the things that you always long for is to participate as a player and then as a coach," the star of that 1982 Honduran World Cup campaign offered. "I got to coach in the Olympics with Honduras, we got to the Pan American Games, where we won the silver medal, and I still have pending the issue of a World Cup.

"I'll never lose sight of the idea of once again directing a national team in World Cup qualifying. I don't know if I'll have the chance, but I work hard to make that objective a reality, and to be more of a factor when I get there. My first objective is to make good on the expectations of the board of directors here that has hired me, and second, aspire to take a national team through the qualifying process for a World Cup."

For Maradiaga, an important step forward as a coach is taking place right now in Guatemala. But it should come as no surprise if this globetrotting football connoisseur one day exchanges the touchlines of his beloved Central America for those of a stadium in some faraway land, in a World Cup still to come.