For the second year in a row, Mexico turned around an 0-2 deficit against Honduras in the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals. This time, a convincing 4–0 victory in the team's best performance since Javier Aguirre returned to manage El Tri secured its place in the semifinals.
Mexico dominated the game from the jump, pushing forward in numbers and generating chance after chance until Raúl Jiménez opened the scoring just before halftime to bring El Tri within one with 45 minutes to go. In the second half, Mexico dismantled Honduras.
Henry Martín came off the bench and scored the second goal of the game to bring the tie level on aggregate and in the 85th minute, Jorge Sánchez made up for a miss minutes prior and scored El Tri's third. Martín then scored from the penalty spot in stoppage time to secure the comeback.
Aguirre's men stood up to the task after the dreadful defeat in the first leg. Mexico tallied 27 shots on the night and had nearly 80% possession. In the rare occasions where Honduras had attacking chances, the defense and Luis Malagón stood tall.
There were a number of stand out performances in what was undoubtedly one of the best performances from El Tri in years. For 2025, Aguirre's challenge is to string together performances like this against stronger opposition. However, Mexico can rest easy knowing it fulfilled its obligation of avoiding a catastrophic exist.
