Honduras midfielder Andy Najar (L) vies with Ecuador’s defender Juan Carlos Paredes during their Group E match on June 20.

DPA/Porto Feliz

Honduras may be close to elimination in thgroup round of the World Cup, but winger Andy Najar knows a lot about overcoming tough challenges.

At the age of 13, the Anderlecht player became an illegal immigrant into the United States, and his prowess on the football pitch eventually earned him a green card, a professional contract with DC United and his ultimate childhood dream, playing a World Cup.

“For me it is the American dream, and it came true. As an immigrant, you dream of going to the United States to have a future. It is beautiful, arriving from Honduras and entering professional football was very important,” Najar told dpa in an interview.

Najar, 21, was born in the poor Honduran village of Santa Cruz de Choluteca, where he spent his afternoons playing football barefoot with his friends.

When he was nine, his parents went to the United States as undocumented migrants and left him with his grandmother. Five years later, it was his own turn to cross one border after another with a coyote and reunite with his parents in Alexandria, Virginia.

“My parents, who were already living in the United States, made that decision. They always wanted me to have a better future,” Najar recalls.

The trek, which included long stretches on foot and the fear of getting caught trying to cross borders, was tough on an early teenager.

“The trip was very long, I did it with a guide. They had contacts and people in every country: Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico. It was a great experience, because although we had to travel over 15 days we managed to make it easier on ourselves.”

At 14, he tried his luck at DC United. His talent was spotted by scouts, and by the age of 17 he got a first-team contract with them.  By then, of course, he had secured a green card and was a legal resident of the United States.

“I had that chance, they allowed me into the (DC United) academy, and I made the most of it. I am always really grateful to people in that club for the chance they gave me to showcase myself, a step which later allowed me to molve to Europe,” he recalls.

Najar was MLS rookie of the year in 2010, he moved to Anderlecht last year and already won the Belgian league with them.

In 2012 he started playing for Honduras’s Under-23 team, and he played a major role in their progress to the quarter-finals of the London 2012 Olympics.

Now he is a key player for the Catrachos’ senior side.

“I’ve wanted to be a footballer since I was a kid, it was my great dream. Since I was five, I dreamt of playing a World Cup, especially with the Honduran national team. Thank God I am now here in Brazil, making that dream come true,” Najar said.

“I achieved all this with great effort, and with the help of my parents.”

Honduras have lost their two World Cup games so far and now need to beat Switzerland in Group E today in Manaus to have any chance of progressing.