At one point, I did try to find a few famous people who share my relatively unusual surname. It wasn't a very successful effort, as the name is obscure at best. But four years ago, Noel Valladares became possibly the most famous Valladares of recent years, as the Honduran goalkeeper in the 2010 World Cup.
Sadly, they lost their first two games, against Chile and Spain, and although he was the man of the match in their final game, against Switzerland, his performance merely denied the Swiss a possible place in the last sixteen - a two goal winning margin would have seen them through.
However, the plucky Hondurans made it through qualifying again this time, and drew a place in Group H with Ecuador, France and Switzerland. And this time, Noel was the captain. History tells that he was unlucky enough to score an own goal which, whilst it confused Jonathan Pearce no end, and was the first instance of goalline technology being decisive in determining whether or not a goal had been scored, it wasn't a moment he will want to remember. Losing 3-0 to France wouldn't have helped, either.
The Hondurans did at least score against Ecuador, but that only kept the score down to 1-2, as Hondurans extended their winless run in World Cup finals tournaments to eight (three draws, five defeats). Despite that, they're still in the competition, albeit by their fingertips. A win against Switzerland, combined with a French win over Ecuador might be enough. It's at least more hope than England have...
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