Nicaragua players (pictured) celebrate after scoring in an UNCAF under-20 qualifier against Belize on July 21, 2014, at the Estadio Cuscatlan in San Salvador, El Salvador.
Jorge Jimenez – Head Coach, Honduras
We created some chances in front of goal, but we needed to finish them. I stay happy with the play of my team and the attitude that it demonstrated. We didn’t plan to have only two points at this stage, but we appreciate the effort. We will fight to the last match for one of the four tickets to World Cup qualifying.
For me, it was a game of two halves. In the first half, El Salvador did a great job of taking the ball from us. We could not get play from the back, so it was difficult for us. In the second period, we dared to play more in El Salvador’s end, but again, we couldn’t get concrete goal opportunities from the chances that we created.
We've got three games left and they will be three finals for us to achieve qualification.
Mauricio Alfaro – Head Coach, El Salvador
Like Honduras, we had two opportunities to score. They (the Hondurans) are strong, fast, but we played well and, at this moment, I am happy with the play of my players.
Costa Rica, which you journalists had as the favorite, has only a point. It is a lesson that nothing in football is written. In this tournament, we have only one forward (Bryan Perez) and with so many games in a row is not easy for the players to recover. Now, we cannot count on Juan Barahona against Nicaragua due to a yellow card suspension and Nelson Moreno will take his place.
There are nine points at play. With seven more and the five that we have, we can ensure qualification, but El Salvador is going to leave everything in all the remaining matches.
Leonardo Pipino – Head Coach, Panama
We have won against one of the tournament favorites (Costa Rica). With plenty of attitude now, let's go out and win on Wednesday against our next opponent Belize because our mentality is to finish first in the table.
We are very happy with the performance of Ismael Diaz de Leon. At 17, he is a very talented, very fast with the ball and has a lot of goals. We must take it slowly, he needs to keep learning.
It is a good thing we're going to face El Salvador with less pressure.
