Honduras and Turkey are playing on the World Cup international friendly schedule on Thursday and the game from RFK Stadium is a big one for the Honduran side as they prepare for Brazil 2014 and the matchup will be streaming with a live stream online from beIN Sport and comes at 8 pm ET just weeks before things start up in South America and the Turkish side is not in the major tournament as this friendly gets underway.
Honduras comes into the World Cup ready to play and they have a tough draw even though it's not the group of death, but it won't be easy, as they will play against France to start and they also are in the same group as Ecuador and Switzerland. Jerry Bengtson and Carlos Costly led the team in scoring during CONCACAF qualifying and now the team is getting ready for Brazil with some friendly matches and they have a full schedule after playing against Venezuela in their last matchup and that was back in March and now they are playing against Turkey before a matchup with Israel. That matchup will be at BBVA Compass Stadium and comes on June 1 and then the team plays against England in another anticipated friendly and that will be at Sun Life Stadium.
Honduras comes into the tournament ready for their tough group and they start off with a very difficult match, as France is coming in with very high expectations and will be playing aggressively to win that first matchup.
A number of teams are playing their friendly matches in the US to help with the travel for Brazil and the United States national team knows about that, as they have the toughest travel schedule of anyone in the tournament, having to fly more miles than any other team. Honduras pulled a draw with Ecuador before the Venezuela win and they matches up with Brazil back in November after playing against Jamaica and Costa Rica in qualifying. Midfielders Luis Garrido and Boniek Garcia are dealing with injuries heading into the tournament, but reports say that both should be fine for Brazil 2014.
Garcia is coming in after playing in the MLS and he was injured while playing for the Houston Dynamo against the LA Galaxy, but he downplayed any issues regarding the World Cup. Garcia said that the injury was not serious and he left the game to be cautious and it was not due to the hamstring and he said that he will be ready for the tournament. The match against France is at the Estadio Beira-Rio for the first match and then the team plays against Ecuador at the Arena da Baixada before their final group match with Switzerland at the Arena Amazonia.
The tournament gets started on June 12 with Brazil taking on Croatia and after that a number of matches will play out over the weekend. The group of death is Group G with the United States and Germany and they will play the first match while Portugal and Ghana face off and that will likely be the toughest group in the tournament draw with Cristiano Ronaldo leading Portugal and the German team coming in strong.
Check here for the Honduras and Turkey World Cup friendly live coverage for the match ahead of Brazil 2014.