Douglas Martinez, Honduras Bow Out Of Olympic Competition
Jul 28, 2021, 11:15 AM
Douglas Martinez #19 of Team Honduras is challenged by Yoonseong Kang #19 of Team South Korea during the Men's Group B match between Republic of Korea and Honduras on day five of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at International Stadium Yokohama on July 28, 2021 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Real Salt Lake forward Douglas Martinez and his national team Honduras have bowed out of the Olympic Games after suffering a 6-0 thrashing in the final group stage game when needed a win or a draw to qualify for the knockout rounds.
Sadly, Honduras went down 2-0 inside the opening 20 minutes after the referee rewarded South Korea with two penalty kicks in which they converted. It went from bad to worse for Honduras in the 39th minute when defender Meléndez was shown a red card.
Minutes later, Martinez’ Olympic campaign was over when he was substituted in the 46th minute due to the red card earlier.
The Olympic run has come to a close for Honduras.#Tokyo2020 | #RSL
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) July 28, 2021
The route continued for South Korea who tallied four additional goals in the second half to dismantle Honduras 6-0. Martinez did not tally a goal at the Tokyo Olympics.
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Honduras joins Argentina, France, and Germany as countries to be eliminated from Olympic Soccer activities.
Martinez will now return back to Utah and compete for RSL and/or the Real Monarchs. Martinez is third in line for RSL behind Rubio Rubin and Bobby Wood, if Martinez remains in Utah, the majority of his playing time will likely be with the Monarchs.
In 2016, Honduras finished in fourth place, one spot shy of a bronze medal. The goal entering Tokyo was to better that and secure a podium finish, that will unfortunately not be the case.
