Sporting KC midfielder Roger Espinoza to join Honduran national team for World Cup qualifiers

The on-again, off-again relationship between Sporting Kansas City midfielder Roger Espinoza and the Honduras national team is apparently back on again.

Espinoza was selected Friday to represent his home country in a pair of World Cup qualifying matches later this month.

He is considered one of the top players for the Honduras national team, appearing in two World Cups and one Olympics games over the past six years. But he was snubbed from the 2016 Olympics roster after he requested to stick with Sporting KC until the national team departed for Brazil. Honduras went another direction with its selection.

Espinoza, 30, has since downplayed the situation, saying he has remained in good graces with the national team.

On Friday, the team returned to Espinoza, who took over the captaincy role for Sporting KC this season. He is part of a 26-player roster that will play World Cup qualifying home matches against Panama on Nov. 11 and Trinidad and Tobago on Nov. 15.

Espinoza has made 49 appearances with Honduras, though he has missed two major tournaments since appearing in the 2014 World Cup. In 2015, he declined an invitation to the CONCACAF Gold Cup, saying he needed to improve his fitness with Sporting KC. He since played for the country in a victory against El Salvador in March.

Honduras, coached by Jose Luis Pinto, is trying to qualify for its third straight World Cup.

This story was originally published November 4, 2016 at 2:29 PM with the headline "Sporting KC midfielder Roger Espinoza to join Honduran national team for World Cup qualifiers."