Honduras vs El Salvador: Gold Cup Match Preview, Odds & Predictions

Saturday at Houston's Shell Energy Stadium will see the first Gold Cup meeting between two Central American nations, Honduras and El Salvador.

After a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Canada, La H saw itself relegated to last place in Group B, one point behind third-place El Salvador, which drew scoreless with Curacao in its first encounter.

Previous Matches and Head-to-head

On matchday one of this tournament, Honduras suffered their worst Gold Cup loss this century, and things couldn't have gone worse for them. 

That snapped Reinaldo Rueda's team's four-match winning streak in all competitions; they'd lost their first two matches in this event by scores of 10-0.

This squad hasn't lost by such a wide margin in a game this decade, and the last time they let in six or more goals was in a June 2019 friendly loss to Brazil.

Honduras last won a match on matchday two of the Gold Cup in 2021 (3-2 vs Panama), and they haven't lost back-to-back games in the group stage of this tournament since 2019.

This season, they're undefeated while leading at halftime in any tournament. However, in 2025, they went on to lose every match they trailed in after 45 minutes, except for their 5-3 victory against Bermuda.

With a total score of 5-0, Los Catrachos have never lost a Gold Cup match against El Salvador this century.

El Salvador played their Caribbean opponents to a stalemate on Tuesday in what was the most boring encounter of the 2025 Gold Cup group stage so far.

Hernan Gomez's squad recorded its second shutout of 2025 despite having only one shot on goal and holding just 39% of the ball.

They have gone five games without a loss in all competitions, and they have won all three of their Gold Cup group games.

On Saturday, they will have a chance to win their first match in this tournament since a 2-0 victory against Trinidad and Tobago in a July 2021 encounter in Texas.

After going winless in their last three matches against Central American opponents, El Salvador had won six consecutive matches against CONCACAF sides.

The last time La Selecta met Honduras, it was in a friendly in Houston in 2018—a 1-0 victory—and they've taken three points from their past four meetings.

Honduras vs El Salvador Team News

Christopher Melendez, Luis Vega, and Alexy Vega replaced Andy Najar, Julian Martinez, and Alexander Lopez, respectively, in Honduras' starting eleven from their World Cup qualification victory over Antigua and Barbuda until their loss to Canada.

Dixon Ramirez aims to make his senior debut this weekend, Deybi Flores can get his 50th cap with the national team, and Romell Quioto can tie for sixth in La H's all-time goal-scoring standings.

Diego Flores, Harold Osorio, and Elvin Alvarado replaced Alexander Larin, Jose Santos Ortiz Asencio, and Nathan Ordaz, respectively, in El Salvador's starting eleven for Tuesday's World Cup qualifier against Suriname.

On the first matchday, Mario Gonzalez made three saves for La Selecta, securing a clean sheet for the second time in his past three national team appearances.

Our Predictions

Full-time draw @ 3.35 on Sky247.ng

It seems like a scoreless draw: La H may be a little shell-shocked and hesitant moving forward after their crushing defeat at the hands of Canada, while El Salvador doesn't have many offensive options.

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