On paper, a home friendly with Venezuela should not pose Honduras too many problems as Reinaldo Rueda's side begin their World Cup preparations.

Yet it is the performance of his team, not the result, that Rueda will be focusing on when the game gets under way in San Pedro Sula on Thursday.

The match is Honduras's last before they leave for Germany on May 15 for a training camp prior to travelling to South Africa for the finals, where Rueda's World Cup outsiders face Spain, Switzerland and Chile.

Rueda has named a 19-man squad of home-based players and all eyes will be on striker Jerry Bengtson, the top scorer in the Honduran first division, who is expected to win his first cap.

The 23-year-old Bengston, who plays his club football for Vida, is desperate to make an impression as he looks to gatecrash the World Cup.

"With Jerry we worked during two call-up sessions before the Gold Cup last year and now he has done well enough to maybe play his first international match against Venezuela," said Rueda.

Should he impress against Venezuela, who missed out on the World Cup finals, Bengston could feature in other pre-tournament friendlies against Azerbaijan on May 27, Belarus on June 2 and Romania three days later.

Olimpia's Johnny Palacios, younger brother of Tottenham's Wilson, is also expected to feature after Rueda deliberately avoided sparking a club-versus-country row by opting not to include any of his European-based players against Venezuela.

His ploy at least defused a potential confrontation with Wigan manager Roberto Martinez.

The Spanish manager was on a collision course with Rueda over internationals Maynor Figueroa and Hendry Thomas.

The duo are key to their national side but had they featured against Venezuela then the pair would have been ruled out of Wigan's key clash with relegation rivals West Ham on Saturday.

"The Honduras federation are asking us for medical reports," said Martinez. "Maynor has played a lot of games and we have to be careful with him. Hendry is just back from injury."