The European champions play the Central American side in the second game of the group stages at Johannesburg'sEllis Park with Reinaldo Rueda's team already marked out as whipping boys alongside Switzerland and Chile.

Yet Honduras have already made their presence felt on football's biggest stage, having spoiled Spain's party back in 1982 in their only previous appearance at the finals.

As Spain, backed by passionate and expectant fans, opened their campaign, the Hondurans held the hosts to a 1-1 draw and would eke out the same result against a Northern Ireland side destined to win the group with a 1-0 victory over the Spanish.

It has taken 28 years for Honduras to return to the World Cup finals and they have USA defender Jonathan Bornstein's late header against Costa Rica last October to thank for securing passage to the big show this summer.

While they were securing a 1-0 win in El Salvador, they needed the Costa Ricans to slip up at Washington DC's RFK Stadium on a rainy and unseasonably cold autumn night in the American capital.

For 72 minutes it looked as if an already-qualified USA side were drifting towards defeat but then Michael Bradley pulled a goal back and the Americans went all out to rescue some pride.

It came late, in the 95th minute and with the US down to 10 men after an injury forced defender Oguchi Onyewu off with all three substitutions made, but Bornstein's goal was as fervently celebrated in Honduras as it was at RFK Stadium.

All that occurred against the backdrop of a military coup that had ousted the Honduran president in June, yet the country's footballers had secured qualification on goal difference over Costa Rica.

Yet if the manner of their qualification was a trifle fortuitous there is still a little more hidden depth than befits a "happy to be here" outfit.

The backbone of the side was forged in the English Premier League, with Tottenham'sWilson Palacios and Wigan's Hendry Thomas shielding a defence that includes another Latic in Maynor Figueroa, while former Major League Soccer playmaker Amado Guevara and Bari's Edgar Alvarez provide the creativity that supplies Genoa loanee David Suazo and former Los Angeles Galaxy veteran Carlos Pavon.

Captain Guevara, with more than 130 caps, is impressed by the squad assembled by Colombian-born Rueda, who was honoured with citizenship of Honduras following qualification.

"This group has a combination of players with a lot of experience and also youngsters who have matured and acquired international nous which, come the time of taking responsibility and making decisions, they can do it in the best way," Guevara told reporters in Honduras recently.

He added that the squad's focus was not on the reputations of their rivals in South Africa but was isolated on each particular 90-minute encounter.

"We know we have weighty rivals with a lot of quality, well coached, but then there's the match and we're preparing for that," Guevara said

"On the pitch we'll be 11 against 11 and the team that does things better will be the one that settles the match.

"We'll have to keep our control and do things properly."