Nicaragua

Nickname(s)	La Azul y Blanco Los Pinoleros Albiazules
Association	Federación Nicaragüense de Fútbol
Confederation	CONCACAF (North America)
Head coach	Ramón Otoniel Olivas
Most caps	Carlos Alonso (36)
Top scorer	Emilio Palacios (11)
Home stadium	Estadio Cacique Diriangén
FIFA code	NCA
FIFA ranking	135
Highest FIFA ranking	132 (February 2009)
Lowest FIFA ranking	193 (May 2001)
Elo ranking	182
Home colours Away colours
First international
El Salvador 9 - 0 Nicaragua (El Salvador; May 1, 1929)
Biggest win
Nicaragua 3 - 1 Guatemala (Panama; February 17, 1967) Nicaragua 4 - 2 Belize (San Salvador, El Salvador; February 12, 2007) Nicaragua 2 - 0 Guatemala (Tegucigalpa, Honduras; January 30, 2009)
Biggest defeat
Brazil 14 - 0 Nicaragua (Mexico; October 17, 1975)
CONCACAF Gold Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 2009)
Best result	Group Stage

The Nicaragua national football team is the national team of Nicaragua and is controlled by the Federación Nicaragüense de Fútbol. It is among the weakest teams in Central America and achieved its first qualification to a major international competition in 2009, when they qualified for the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup after a 2-0 win over Guatemala in the UNCAF Nations Cup 2009.^[1]

[edit] Records

The Nicaraguan national football has never qualified for the World Cup.Their last attempt was in 2008 when Nicaragua lost both legs in the first round to the Netherlands Antilles.

[edit] World Cup record

• 1930 to 1990 - Did not enter
• 1994 to 2010 - Did not qualify

[edit] CONCACAF Championship record

• 1963 - Round 1
• 1965 - Did not qualify
• 1967 - 6th place
• 1969 - Did not enter
• 1971 - Did not qualify
• 1973 - Did not qualify
• 1977 to 1989 - Did not enter

[edit] Gold Cup record

• 1991 to 2007 - Did not qualify
• 2009 - Round 1

[edit] UNCAF Nations Cup record

Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1991	Preliminary round	2	0	0	2	2	5
1993	Preliminary round	2	0	0	2	0	8
1995	Preliminary round	2	0	0	2	0	7
1997	First round	2	0	0	2	2	11
1999	First round	2	0	0	2	0	2
2001	First round	3	0	0	3	2	19
2003	Sixth Place	5	1	0	4	1	11
2005	Group Stage	3	1	0	2	2	9
2007	Sixth Place	4	1	0	3	6	14
2009	Fifth Place	4	1	2	1	5	6

[edit] Current squad

The following players have been selected for the squad for the 2009 Gold Cup.^[2] Caps and goals are current as of July 27, 2009.^[3]

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Denis Espinoza (Captain) 25 August 1983 (aged 25) 16 0 Diriangén 12 GK Carlos Mendieta 3 November 1979 (aged 29) 6 0 Real Estelí GK Ivan Mendez 19 March 1983 (aged 26) 0 0 Real Estelí 3 DF Silvio Avilés 11 August 1980 (aged 28) 21 0 CD Walter Ferretti 4 DF Armando Collado 17 November 1983 (aged 25) 9 0 Alianza F.C. 5 DF Carlos Alonso 25 August 1979 (aged 29) 36 0 Chinandega 16 DF Marvin Molina 21 December 1981 (aged 27) 4 0 Real Estelí 20 DF David Solórzano 5 November 1980 (aged 28) 33 0 Diriangén 2 MF Roger Mejía 30 April 1984 (aged 25) 4 0 América 6 MF Armando Reyes 29 July 1981 (aged 27) 17 1 Diriangén 7 MF Juan Ramón Barrera 2 May 1989 (aged 20) 7 1 CD Walter Ferretti 10 MF Samuel Wilson 4 April 1983 (aged 26) 15 4 Real Estelí 11 MF Felix Zeledón 24 November 1983 (aged 25) 7 0 Real Estelí 14 MF Gabriel Avilés 1 July 1989 (aged 20) 2 0 América 15 MF Franklin López 16 August 1982 (aged 26) 20 1 Real Estelí 17 MF José Angel Carballo 23 April 1987 (aged 22) 1 0 CD Walter Ferretti 18 MF Marlon Medina 6 August 1985 (aged 23) 7 1 Real Estelí 19 MF Vidal Alonso 3 November 1980 (aged 28) 0 0 Scorpión 21 MF David Martínez 10 August 1983 (aged 25) 8 0 Real Estelí 8 FW Rudel Calero 20 December 1982 (aged 26) 21 4 Bluefields 9 FW Wilber Sánchez 24 August 1979 (aged 29) 15 0 CD Walter Ferretti 13 FW Félix Rodríguez 17 January 1982 (aged 27) 0 0 Bluefields 22 FW Daniel Reyes 21 July 1990 (aged 18) 0 0 Tigres

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Current staff

Head Coach	Ramon Otoniel Olivas
Assistant Coach	Edward Urroz
2nd Assistant Coach	TBA
GK Coach	TBA
Physical Coordinator	Tomas Traña
Medical Trainer	TBA
Massage Therapist	TBA
Trainer	TBA

[edit] Upcoming games

Date	Location	Opponent	Competition
5 July	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland	Mexico	Gold Cup
9 July	Reliant Stadium, Houston	Guadeloupe	Gold Cup
12 July	University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale	Panama	Gold Cup

[edit] Nicaragua Coaches

Name	From	To
Octavio Edmundo Salas Urbina	1941	?
Omar Zambrana	?	?
Salvador Dubois Leiva		1991,1992
Mauricio Cruz Jiron	1993	2001
Mauricio Battistini	2002	2004
Marcelo Javier Zuleta	(August) 2005	(September) 2005
Carlos De Toro	(September) 2007	(December) 2008
Mauricio Cruz Jiron	2008	2008
Ramón Otoniel Olivas	2008 -

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• A Picture of the Team
• FENIFUT - Nicaraguan Football Federation
• Nicaragua in the RSSSF Archives

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