# 2009 UNCAF Nations Cup

The UNCAF Nations Cup 2009 was the tenth edition of the UNCAF Nations Cup, the biennial football (soccer) tournament for the CONCACAF-affiliated national teams of Central America. The first five places qualified for the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The event was going to take place in Panama City, Panama between January 22 and February 1, 2009, but the Panamanian FA announced that they would not host the event due to not having an adequate stadium available for the time period of the tournament. The alternative hosts were Honduras and Guatemala. Honduras submitted an official replacement bid on November 12, and after some consideration it was moved to Honduras. All games were played in Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino in Tegucigalpa. The tournament was sponsored by Digicel. On 1 February 2009 Panama won the tournament, the first UNCAF Nations Cup win in the country's history.

## Participating nations

All seven UNCAF members participated in the tournament:
* Belize
* Costa Rica (Defending Champions)
* El Salvador
* Guatemala
* Honduras (Hosts)
* Nicaragua
* Panama

## Stadium

| Tegucigalpa | Tegucigalpa |
| Tegucigalpa | Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino |
| Tegucigalpa | Capacity: 35,000 |

## First round

The group stage draw took place on December 9, 2008 in Guatemala City. The reigning champions, Costa Rica, and the hosts, Honduras, were automatically drawn as top seed in their respective groups. Costa Rica was paired with Panama and Guatemala, the first two runners-up from the 2007 UNCAF Nations Cup. The remaining teams – El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Belize – were drawn into the same group as Honduras.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Honduras | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 9 | Qualified to the Semifinals |
| 2 | El Salvador | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 4 | Qualified to the Semifinals |
| 3 | Nicaragua | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 2 | Qualified to the Fifth place playoff |
| 4 | Belize | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 1 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Costa Rica | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 6 | Qualified to the Semifinals |
| 2 | Panama | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 3 | Qualified to the Semifinals |
| 3 | Guatemala | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 0 | Qualified to the Fifth place playoff |

## Final round
### Fifth place

The winner of the fifth place match qualified for the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup as the fifth and final entrant from Central America.

### Semifinals

All four semifinalists qualified for the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
* The game was called after sixty minutes of play when El Salvador was reduced to six players. Two El Salvador players, Alexander Escobar and Eliseo Quintanilla, were awarded red cards in the first half, and Deris Umanzor, Rodolfo Zelaya, and goalkeeper Juan José Gómez were injured and had to leave the game after El Salvador had already exhausted their three substitutions. The game was awarded 3–0 to Costa Rica

### Final

| Panama | Costa Rica |
PANAMA: :
| GK | 1 | Jaime Penedo |
| DF | 2 | Carlos Rivera |
| DF | 4 | José Torres (C) |
| DF | 6 | Amílcar Henríquez |
| DF | 13 | Adolfo Machado |
| DF | 14 | Armando Gun |
| MF | 5 | Manuel Torres | 81' |
| MF | 10 | Nelson Barahona | | 81' |
| MF | 15 | Ricardo Phillips |
| FW | 8 | Gabriel Torres | 63' | 69' |
| FW | 9 | Orlando Rodríguez | | 62' |
| Substitutions: |||
| FW | 7 | Edwin Aguilar | | 62' |
| MF | 11 | Víctor Herrera | | 69' |
| MF | 20 | Luis Jaramillo | | 81' |
| Manager: |||
| Gary Stempel |||
COSTA RICA: :
| GK | 23 | Ricardo González |
| DF | 3 | Freddy Fernández (C) |
| DF | 4 | Michael Umaña |
| DF | 12 | Leonardo González | 37' |
| DF | 17 | Pablo Herrera | | 72' |
| DF | 19 | Carlos Johnson |
| MF | 5 | Cristian Oviedo | 75' |
| MF | 15 | Jorge Davis |
| MF | 22 | Álvaro Sánchez | | 46' |
| FW | 7 | Alejandro Alpízar | 6' |
| FW | 11 | Andy Furtado |
| Substitutions: |||
| FW | 21 | Víctor Núñez | | 46' |
| MF | 16 | Pablo Brenes | | 58' |
| MF | 14 | Paolo Jiménez | | 72' |
| Manager: |||
| Rodrigo Kenton |||

## Results

* 2009 UNCAF Nations Cup champions
* Panama First title
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final status |
| 1 | Panama | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 7 | Champions |
| 2 | Costa Rica | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | +8 | 10 | Runner-up |
| 3 | Honduras | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 12 | Third place winner |
| 4 | El Salvador | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 4 | Third place loser |
| 5 | Nicaragua | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 5 | Fifth place winner |
| 6 | Guatemala | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 | Fifth place loser |
| 7 | Belize | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 1 | Eliminated in Group stage |
* Top 5 qualified to the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

## Scorers
### 3 goals

* Andy Furtado

### 2 goals

* Alfredo Pacheco
* Samuel Wilson
* Walter Martínez

### 1 goal

* Alberto Zapata
* Ricardo Phillips
* Lisbey Castillo
* Jerome James
* Harrison Róchez
* William Sunsing
* Roberto Segura
* Álvaro Sánchez
* Pablo Herrera
* Marlon Medina
* Armando Reyes
* Juan Barrera
* Marvin Chávez
* Mario Rodríguez
* Saúl Martínez
* Carlos Pavón
* Emil Martínez
* Amado Guevara
* Roger Espinoza
* Minor López
* Ramón Sánchez
* Carlos Ayala

### 1 goal (Own Goal)

* Silvio Avilés (for El Salvador)
* David Solorzano (for Honduras)