Review of 2021/22 Nicaragua Liga Primera Apertura – Week 2

August 8, 9 & 10, 2021

In May 2020, these diaries previewed the final of the Nicaragua 2019/20 Clausura tournament. At the time, Nicaragua, along with Belarus, Burundi and Turkmenistan, was the only country continuing to play during the global pandemic, and hence temporarily gained a worldwide audience for their league. After a 1-1 draw at home, Real Esteli won 3-1 at Managua FC to secure the Clausura title, having also won the Apertura tournament.

In the 2020/21 season, Real Esteli won the Apertura championship, beating Diriangen 1-0 on aggregate in the final. However, their recent run of dominance ended in the Clausura competition, where Diriangen, who alongside Esteli are the other giant of club football in Nicaragua, overcame Managua FC 3-1 on aggregate.

After being losing semi-finalists in the Apertura, Chinandega had a disastrous closing campaign, leading to eventual relegation after an eventful play-off with H&H Export Sebaco. Junior Managua were automatically relegated after just one season back in the top flight, with UNAM Managua returning to the Liga Primera after one year away.

The 10 sides in the Liga Primera play each other twice for 18 games in the regular season Apertura. The sides finishing 3^rd to 6^th meet in single games ( 3^rd vs 6^th, 4^th vs 5^th ) to determine the two sides to join the top two in two legged semi-finals, with the winners playing a two match final. The pattern is repeated in the Clausura tournament.

All games are streamed live on the YouTube Liga Primera channel, which also has highlights and weekly round-ups. After a season of matches behind closed doors, spectators are now permitted.

 

The first two rounds of the 2021/22 Apertura have so far been played, and the three sides expected to be the main contenders, Real Esteli, Diriangen and Walter Ferratti had 100% records.

Sunday August 8, 2021

Real Esteli 3-0 Real Madriz

CD Walter Ferretti 4-0 Deportivo Ocotal

Monday August 9, 2021

ART Municipal Jalapa 1-1 Managua FC

Tuesday August 10, 2021

UNAN Managua 0-2 H&H Export Sebaco

Diriangen 2-0 Juventus Managua

Real Esteli recorded their second home win of the season with a comfortable home win over Real Madriz, who have now lost two away matches.

Esteli is located 150km north of the capital Managua and is the eighth largest city in the country. Its football side are the second most successful club in the history of Nicaraguan football, but have been the dominant side in recent years.

Real Madriz are not to be confused with a similarly named side in Spain, but do play in a predominately all white kit ! They are located in the town of Somoto, the capital of the Madriz region in the northern hills of Nicaragua, and is 31km north-west of Esteli.

Esteli started with 7 full internationals in their line-up, including three of the five all time most capped players in the history of the national team ( defenders Josue Quijano and Manuel Rosas and midfielder Marlon Lopez ), plus three more on the bench.

After a fairly even first half, national striker Brendon Ayerdis, who caught the eye the last time these diaries reported on Real Esteli, put the home side on the road to victory in the 53^rd minute, firing past the Madriz keeper at his near post after being put in space by fellow national team member Richard Rodriguez. Madriz fell away after falling behind, Ayerdis added a second, beating Brazilian team-mate Vitor Silva to finish off a swift break and Paz added a third in injury time with a clever lob over the advancing Madriz keeper.

 

CD Walter Ferretti are based in the capital Managua and were formed in 1984 as the sporting wing of the Sandinista Police. They have won 4 championships and have finished in the top 4 in every competition in the last 10 years. They started with three internationals in their line-up, with four more in the bench. Three foreigners started for them, ex-Real Esteli Mexican forward Taufic Guarich, Mexican defender Carlos Castro and Colombian centre back Maykel Reyes

Deportivo Ocotal are based in Ocotal, 225km north of Managua and close to the border with Honduras. Their main local rivals are Real Madriz.

Walter Ferretti scored 4 goals at home for the second game running. Argentine striker Brian Calabrese opening the scoring in the 36^th minute, getting ahead of his marker to head home a flick from former international midfielder Alexis Somarriba for his third goal of the season. Somarriba added the second the 57^th minute with a 25 yard left footed effort into the top corner of the net leaving Ocotal keeper Figueroa no chance. The keeper was a little unfortunate with Walter Ferretti’s third goal, getting a hand to rasping long range effort from Castellon, but the ball rebounded off the post, hit the keeper’s body and fell for an easy finish for Dshon Forbes into an empty net. Forbes, who has 3 caps for Nicaragua, wrapped up the scoring three minutes from time after an unselfish lay-off from Somarriba gave him an open goal tap-in.

 

Municipal Jalapa play in Jalapa, 290km north of Managua, and are a relative rarity in that they actually play on a grass pitch ( Ocotal, Real Madriz and H&H Export Sebaco are the others ). However, in the two matches so far this season this may have been a handicap given its muddy condition ! Despite having only a small ground, it looked crowded and so generated a decent atmosphere.

Managua FC are the recent nearly men of the Liga Primera. Although they won the 2018 Apertura, they have been runners-up in the past two Clausura championships but after two matches of this campaign have only recorded one point.

In a competitive match, Medina gave Jalapa the lead, beating the Managua keeper and a couple of defenders to head home Centeno’s in-swinging free-kick. Managua were in the ascendency in the second half and deservedly equalised with a similar goal to the one they conceded, but this this time the header from Brazilian Cristiano Fernandez was a flick with his back to the goal. Cristiano is back with Managua after a year at Walter Ferretti.

 

In a meeting of the two promoted sides, UNAM Managua fell to H&H Export Sebaco to remain pointless, whilst Sebaco earned their first points of the season with a 2-0 victory. UNAM play in the 15,000 capacity National Stadium in the capital, whilst Sebaco is 100km north of Managua.

There was little to chose between the two sides until UNAM defender Salgado unwittingly deflected Zuniga’s cross from the by-line past his own keeper three minutes into the second half. Sebaco had a few anxious moments before Herrera settled the match, controlling a partially clearing header on his chest, letting the ball bounced and then firing through a crowd of players from 12 yards with the keeper unsighted.

 

Diriangen FC were founded in 1917, making them one of the oldest clubs in Central America, and they have won a record 26 national titles. After a relatively barren time, they won the 2020/21 Clausura, the most recent competition, and so are the current champions. It was only their second title since 2006.

Although based in Diriamba, 40km south of Managua, their first two home matches were played in the National Stadium in Managua, although they are expected to return to their Estadio Cacique Diriangen for their next home match in round 6.  

Juventus Managua have won two championships ( in 1993 & 1994 ) but have been a middling side in recent years. They play home matches at the 8,000 capacity Estadio Olimpico in Managua.

Perhaps slightly confusingly, it was Diriangen rather than Juventus who were playing in the black and white stripes. Argentinian striker Carlos Torres, back for his third spell at Diriangen, was the match winner, and opened the scoring in the 4^th minute with a curling left-footed shot from outside the penalty area which crept inside the far post after diving Diriangen player had missed it. His second goal arrived in the 67^th minute, when he stoo ped low to head home a bouncing corner from 6 yards.  

However, it was far from a convincing victory for Diriangen and Juventus were perhaps unfortunate not to take something from the game, as they hit the woodwork twice, Diriangen keeper Espinoza made one outstanding point-blank save, and they had a couple of near misses as well.