The soccer team of Nicaragua debuted this Saturday in the qualifying rounds of the Concacaf for the Qatar World Cup 2022 with a 0-7 win against Turks and Caicos Islands.
In a match held at the Pan-American stadium in San Cristóbal (Dominican Republic), without an audience due to the covid-19 pandemic, the “Azul y blanco” played one of the most complete matches in their discreet history against “white sharks” who did not live up to their nickname.
Nicaragua dominated the game in its entirety. The 0-2 at halftime, with goals from Juan Barrera in minute 3 and Ariagner Smith in minute 8, did not match the reality of the match, but the second half did justice.
In the minute 45 Smith returned to pierce the net, followed by Marvin Fletes in 47, Barrera repeated in 59, Deshon Forbes did the same in 78, and the score was closed by the Spanish of Nicaraguan mother Matías Moldskred, nephew of the multi-award winning Nicaraguan writer Gioconda Belli.
The win could have been more bulky, were it not for the lack of aim of the Nicaraguans, which included a failure by Barrera from the penalty spot.
According to the statistics of the match, Nicaragua controlled the ball in 79% of the playing time and generated 94% of the dangerous attacks, many of them coming from the feet of the Uruguayan Nicaraguan Richard Rodríguez.
The physical work of the Argentine technical director Juan Vito was noted in the performance of the footballers, since they were seen with more resistance than their rivals in the last minutes, although they were not demanded in any of the areas of the field.
The win allowed Nicaragua to tie for the first place in Group E of the qualifying rounds with Haiti, which beat Belize 2-0, although it has an advantage by goals in favor, 7 to 2.
Nicaragua, which occupies position 149 in the FIFA rankings, will face Belize on June 4, and four days later will close the first round against Haiti, in places that are yet to be decided.
Turks and Caicos Islands, the 203 country out of a total of 210 FIFA affiliates, will face Belize on the 30th, at the Pan American in the Dominican Republic, and with Haiti on June 5 in a stadium to be defined.