World Soccer - UK 2020-05)

plan to deal with the COVID-19 crisis
because they claim the government
is leading the country to a catastrophe.
It has to be said that for the last two
years Nicaragua has been in a deep
socio-political crisis. A popular uprising
against Ortega has left hundreds of
prisoners, thousands of wounded
and tens of thousands in exile.
The situation has been made
even stranger because Ortega has not
appeared in public or on television since
March 12, which has sparked all kinds
of speculation about his whereabouts
in Nicaraguan society. The rumours
range from his absence being a political
strategy to avoid scrutiny to speculation

that he could have died of coronavirus

and that the regime is hiding it.

While all of this is going on, the league

continues uninterrupted. And although

some players and teams have called for

a stoppage it was not for the reason that

one might think, according to Mondragon.

“There are teams here that have

wanted to stop the league,” he reveals.

“Players who don’t want to play but who

say that their teams force them. In my

team we have not wanted it to stop, truth

be told. We were in the relegation places

and if it were suspended then we would

go down. And, at the same time, the

teams that were safe at the time wanted

it to stop, to ensure their safety.

“Now that we are out of danger it

is the other teams who don’t want the

league to stop.”

Everything seems to indicate that the

Liga Primera de Nicaragua will continue

until its conclusion, which was primed to

be an exciting affair. With four games to

go, Managua were top of the table, three

points ahead of Real Esteli and Diriangen.

And although the stadiums are closed

to the public, the lack of football around

the world has meant that, for the first

and perhaps only time, this tournament

climax will be news for media and fans

around the world – which is an unusual

situation in a country which is usually

far from the big headlines and in which

baseball is the most popular sport.

Coronavirus in football

“They closed shops, bars and restaurants, but then

reopened them because they said there was no problem”

Edder Mondragon

Closed doors...Managua

(in blue) and Diriangen line up

before a top-of-the-table clash

Leaders...Managua’s

Mike Cruz heads home