TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Honduran media Thursday rebuked the national football team for failing to qualify for the knockout rounds of the 2014 Brazil World Cup.
The team's 3-0 loss to Switzerland Wednesday dashed any hopes Honduran football fans had of seeing their lineup advance to the round of 16.
The daily La Tribuna ran the headline "The shame ended as it had begun," while the northern daily Tiempo reported that "Switzerland tore the team to shreds."
La Prensa summed the game up this way: "Honduras put in its worst World Cup performance," while the El Heraldo daily of the capital Tegucigalpa described the team's performance as "shameful."
Following the defeat, both Colombian coach Luis Fernando Suarez and the president of the Honduran football federation (Fenafuth) preempted the inevitable by quitting their posts.
"The best thing that could happen to Honduras is for me to go," Suarez said shortly after the game, according to La Prensa.
A couple of the players, including midfielder Victor Bernardez and forward Carlos Costly, even announced their withdrawal from the national team.
A few of the managers of Fenafuth, such as Javier Atala, have been talking of immediately replacing Suarez with a local hire.
Honduras started off on the wrong foot, losing 3-0 to France in its debut match, before falling to Ecuador 2-1 and finally Switzerland 3-0.
This was Honduras' third time at a World Cup, after Spain in 1982 and South Africa in 2010, but it has scored only three goals in all at the championships.
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