Sporting Kansas City midfielder Roger Espinoza has drawn the ire of his country after rejecting a call-up to the Honduran National Team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which begins on July 7th. Espinoza cited both physical and mental factors as the reasons for his attitude when speaking to MLSsoccer.com.
“I don't feel 100 percent physically, mentally,” he said. “The past few years have drained me, for sure. I had surgery in 2014, hernia surgery in April, right before I had to go to the World Cup. Being able to play in the World Cup and then come back with no vacation straight to preseason in England, and then not being able to play all the games in England, I think that's taken a toll on me. So I felt like if I'm not going to be 100 percent on the national team, I'd be lying to myself, my teammates in Honduras – the whole country, basically."
Espinoza is fully expecting to face some backlash for the decision, and went on to state that this was not a decision he came to lightly.
“It's really tough,” he said. “It's a tough decision, but sometimes you have to make those decisions. Some people will criticize you. Some people will take it in a different way, a good way. But it's a decision I made. Being over there is different than playing club.”
Not surprisingly, Espinoza has received different reactions from his club and international management. Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes has been supportive while maintaining that he had no hand in the decision.
In his weekly news conference on Friday, Vermes stated: “Now, I'm not in those discussions because it's not me telling him to do that, and I'm not in those discussions with Honduras, either. But at least the way that I understand it, I think it's a very mature decision on his part, and I also think it's – I appreciate very much Honduras understanding that aspect. Because there's not too many times a player says, 'I don't want to go because I don't think that I'm ready.' Most guys will take that chance. They'll just go because they're afraid they're never going to get invited again. I hope that they understand it that way, which I think they do.”
Espinoza will be grateful to be receiving that support from the club level, because he has had a hard time receiving it from Honduras manager Jorge Luis Pinto. It's not surprising that he's upset, given that Espinoza is one of the finest footballing talents that Honduras has ever produced. The midfielder stated that Pinto also warned him someone else could well take his spot.
“He warned me that someone else might take the spot later on,” said Espinoza. “I'm in no disagreement with that. I agree with him. It's true. There's a lot of good players on Honduras. But I've got to take care of myself. Right before I told him that I was not going to be able to go, I got injured here. So I know physically how I feel. I need to get better here. I think in the defensive part, I'm OK there. I just think with the ball, in transition, it's been a little tougher for me. But with each game, I'm getting better and better.”
Espinoza has made 42 appearances for the Honduran senior national team, scoring four times. He was a member of the squad at the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, and appeared four times as a member of the Honduran squad at the 2012 Olympics, where he also scored once.