Review : Nicaragua 2021/22 Liga Primera Clausura Semi-Final Second Legs

May 11^th, 2022

Real Esteli 0-2 CD Walter Ferretti ( agg 3-4 )

Ramos ( 79 ), Montiel ( 119 )

Diriangen FC 1-0 FC Managua ( agg : 2-1 )

Moreno ( 117 )

There was plenty of late drama in both Clausura semi-final second legs.

Real Esteli had been Apertura and Clausura champions in both 2019 & 2020 but had been eliminated in the semi-finals in the 2021 Clausura by FC Managua on away goals, and lost in the 2022 Apertura final 0-1 on aggregate to Diriangen.

They had finished second in the regular Clausura table, 12 points ahead of third placed CD Walter Ferretti, and so were favourites to advance from the semi-final, especially after securing a dramatic 3-2 away win against in the first leg in the capital.  

Walter Ferretti had reached the semi-final after a 1-0 home win over H&H Export Sebaco, who had recovered from their 0-8 hammering at the hands of Diriangen to finish 6^th, albeit thanks to ART Jalapa being penalised three points for fielding more than 5 foreigners against Diriangen when only 4 are permitted on the pitch at any time.

Esteli had fallen 0-2 behind after just over 20 minutes of the first leg, with a flicked header from Colombian Francisco Ramos deceiving Colombian keeper Denver Fox (  1 cap ) , then Mexican Taufic Guarch’s free-kick evaded everyone to nestle in the far corner of the net.

An unfortunate deflected own goal from a corner brought Esteli back to 1-2 just before half-time. Real then dominated the second half, and after Josue Quijano’s ( 61 caps ), long range effort rebounded off the post, Brazilian midfielder Igor Neves was the quickest to respond to turn the rebound into an empty net to level the tie after 61 minutes.

Esteli wrapped up a first leg lead in the 75^th minute when Danilo Alves broke clear and then unselfishly played a square ball for international striker Brandon Ayerdis to skip inside last defender Maykel Reyes and tap into the empty net.

Although Walter Ferretti had an unexpectedly 2-0 victory at Esteli in the regular Clausura season, they were still 13/2 outsiders with Bet365.com to triumph in the second leg.

After a turgid first half, with just over 10 minutes remaining, Pedro Mendez’s cross was flicked into the far corner of the net by Francisco Ramos to level the tie and send it into extra-time.  

With just less than one minute of added time to be played, Ferretti had a free-kick on the edge of the Esteli penalty area. However, Guarch’s free-kick went straight into the defensive wall, and the loose ball was horribly sliced into the air by Ramos. Fortunately, for the visitors, the ball sailed to the unmarked Montiel, whose leaping header from 8 yards looped over the despairing Esteli keeper to give Walter Ferretti a dramatic and unexpected victory, and a place in the Clausura final.

The other semi-final was a match-up between Apertura Champions Dirangen FC, who had topped the regular Clausura table, and FC Managua, who had finished 4^th and then knocked-out Juventus Managua 4-3 after having been pegged back three times in the match.

The first match had finished 1-1, with Luis Coronel’s early side-footed finish being cancelled out by Nahun Peralta’s drive from the edge of the area in the second half. In a second leg of precious few chances, the closest to a goal came in the second half when Acuna struck the cross-bar from 20 yards for Diriangen.

In front of a crowd pretty close to the stadium’s 8,500 capacity, Diriangen gradually cranked up the pressure in extra time, and they again hit the woodwork, this time from Jaime Moreno. With just three minutes remaining, Moreno found some space to control a low cross, turn and drill home left footed from 12 yards as his marker slipped in trying to block the goal-bound effort to put Diriangen through to the final. It was his 13^th goal of the Clausura campaign, one less than leading scorer Luis Galeano of Export Sebaco, so still has a chance to finish with the golden boot.

In the melee for the goal celebrations there must have been some altercation, as after a long review with his assistants, the referee brandished red cards to an unused substitute from each side, and blew for the end of the match shortly after.

The first leg is being played on Sunday, 16 May at the National Stadium in Nicaragua, which is where Walter Ferretti play their home matches. Kick-off will be 19.00 kick-off local time, which is 2am Monday morning UK time. The date of the second leg is still to be announced.