It will be hard for North American fans watching this evening's do-or-die Olympic qualifying match between Honduras and El Salvador to avoid doing so in the context of one overwhelming narrative: the football war.
Yep. For the football-as-war metaphor it doesn't get much better than the 100-day conflict that broke out between these two countries in and around qualifying for the 1970 World Cup. Of course, like most wars, the root causes were far more complex than a few soccer games, but anyone who watches football knows its capacity to inflame emotions. And if there's one thing that doesn't help matters when two countries are already on war footings, it's inflamed emotions.
Yet 30-odd years on, in the buildup to Saturday's match that will determine which of these two soccer-obsessed nations earns a ticket to this summer's London Olympics, there's been an absence of the jingoistic rally crying you'd find in say, English tabloids, whenever the Three Lions play anyone that Great Britain has fought a war against.
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That may simply be because Honduras and El Salvador have played so many times since their war took place. Or, more optimistically for humans in general, it may be because people in both countries would rather just move on.
For some in the Salvadoran press it is certainly about revenge, but not for incidents on a battlefield. It's about revenge for incidents on a football pitch. Recent incidents.
In April 2007 it was Honduras who knocked El Salvador's U17 out of the running for the upcoming World Cup in Mexico. Not exactly the stuff grudges are made of, but I suppose if you're tasked with stirring some passion on the eve of a big match there's no harm in nudging readers' collective memory.
But there was another incident. One that may have been far more galling to those who witnessed it. In October 2009 it was Honduras who put the finishing touches on El Salvador's failed bid to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. El Salvador was already out of contention when Honduras travelled to Estadio Cuscatlan in San Salvador and beat the home side 1-0.
The game of course was crucial to the Hondurans, who desperately needed the already-qualified U.S. to get some kind of result against Costa Rica in Washington D.C. on the same night.
Many of you will recall that the U.S. did, in incredibly dramatic fashion. Jonathan Bornstein headed an injury-time equalizer to knock Costa Rica from the World Cup and send Honduras instead. The Hondurans of course
Maybe today will be that day?
The Football War started forty years ago and took forever to sort itself out. From my limited understand it doesn't really appear that either side gained much from it. As Bono would say: "There's many lost but tell me who has won."
So if you get the chance to watch today's match - which kicks off before Canada and Mexico -- remember that the two nations' senior mens' teams have played each other on 63 occasions, with Honduras winning 31 of those meetings. Honduras wants its third trip to the Olympics, having enjoyed all the recent success by qualifying in 2000 and 2008. El Salvador hasn't been to the Olympics since 1968. Violent military history aside, this was always going to be an intense match. And one well worth watching.