The last game of the 2019/20 season in Nicaragua takes
place at 6pm Saturday May 8th local time ( or 2am on Sunday UK time
). The Liga Primera de Nicaragua has been one of the very few leagues to
continue during the Covid-19 pandemic although games have been played behind
closed doors. Many matches from Nicaragua have been streamed live on YouTube so
football in Nicaragua has reached a much wider audience than usual, as fans
starved of their normal football fix have tuned in. Those in Europe who are
put-off by the late kick-off times can still watch the whole match any time
later on YouTube, and so don’t have to re-enact the Likely Lads episode to
avoid knowing the score !
The Nicaragua national team stand 151 in the FIFA world
rankings, between Burundi and Liberia. Compared to European national sides they
are below Andorra but above Moldova and Malta. They were top seed in their
CONCACAF Nations League group last autumn but only finished third out of four,
losing twice to Suriname, losing and drawing with St Vincent, but beating
Dominica twice.
Like many Central and South American countries, the Liga
Primera de Nicaragua league operates with Apertura and Clausura seasons with a
play-off system to determine the winner of each tournament. There are 10 clubs in the league, who play
each other twice in each tournament. After all matches in the tournament have
been completed, third plays sixth and fourth plays fifth in one-off matches to
qualify to the semi-finals to join the teams who finished first and second. The
semi-finals are played home and away, as is the final.
The results of the regular Apertura and Clausura
tournaments are added together to determine relegation from the Liga Primera.
The team with the worst record is automatically relegated to the Segunda
Division whereas the team with the ninth best record plays-off over two legs
against the second placed team in the Segunda Division. It is technically
possible to win a tournament and still be relegated. As an example this season,
Municipal Jalapa finished fifth in the Clausura but with only the ninth best
record over the whole season. As it happened, they lost their preliminary
play-off but won the relegation play-off to stay in Liga Primera.
Despite only finishing third and fourth in the regular
season, the Apertura final was played between Real Esteli and Managua FC, with
Real winning 2-1 on aggregate after extra time.
Both sides have also qualified for the Clausura final, with
Real getting past Diriangen and Managua knocking out Walter Ferretti..
Real Esteli are the second most successful club in
Nicaraguan football history, having won 15 national league championships.
Esteli is 150km north of the capital Managua, and is the third largest city in
the country. It is a major producer of cigars and is also twinned with
Sheffield. Real play their home matches at the 5,000 capacity Estadio
Independencia, which has an artificial grass pitch.
Managua FC are one of four clubs in the Liga Primera
located in the capital, and share the 8,000 capacity Estadio Olimpico del Ind
Managua with Juventus Managua. They have won only one national league championship,
the 2018 Apertura, where they overcame Real Esteli, although they also won the 2019
Copa de Nicaragua.
Managua headed the Clausura regular league table, finishing
seven points clear of Real in second place. They also had the best record over
the combined tournaments, whereas Esteli had only the third best record
overall. Their side is a lot less experienced than Real’s, and whilst 8 of
their squad are full Nicaraguan Internationals, they have only total 35 caps
between them. In contrast, Esteli have 12 full Internationals with nearly 250
caps in total, and have four of the five most capped players in the history of
Nicaraguan football ( Quijano, Barrera, Rosas and Marlon Lopez ). In
Nicaragua’s last international match, five Real players were in the starting
line-up but only one from Managua. Both clubs also had a player come off the
bench as well. To some extent this is the future of Nicaraguan football versus
its old guard.
Sides are permitted to have upto four foreign players
registered at any one time. Real Esteli have two Mexicans, Taufic Guarch, their
top goal scorer in the regular Clausura with five goals, and midfielder Alonso
Tavera, and also have Colombian defender Geiler Mosquera. Their top scorer over
the 2019/20 season was international Brandon Ayerdis with 10 goals. Esteli have
not been scoring many goals recently, only 8 in their last 9 games, but they
have only conceded 4 times in this period.
The player that catches the eye in the Managua squad is
Spaniard Pablo Gallego, who was their top scorer in both the Apertura and
Clausura tournaments with 17 goals in total. His CV includes 6 matches in the
Greek Super League with Larissa and several clubs in the Spanish third level.
Brazilian midfielder Christiano has 14 goals over the full season, and the
other registered foreigners are Mexico forward Carlos Felix with 16 goals and Cuban
midfielder Sandro Cutino.
The first leg of the final was played in Esteli, finishing
1-1. After weeks of continuous playing Wednesdays & Saturday, the players
have had a week’s break after the first leg of the final, so hopefully they
will all be fit, fresh and raring to go for the Championship decider !
First leg highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO7hYbcFb0Y
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