Tag: Nicaragua

Nicaragua kicked out of Gold Cup for fielding ineligible player

The USMNT will now face Trinidad and Tobago in Group A instead of the Central American nation

With less than two weeks until the Gold Cup kicks off, CONCACAF announced Monday night that Nicaragua had been kicked out of the tournament for fielding an ineligible player.

The confederation said the unnamed player participated in eight matches for Nicaragua, including matches in the 2022-23 Nations League.

Nicaragua was replaced by Trinidad and Tobago in Group A, with the Caribbean nation earning the right by being the highest second-place team overall from League B groups in the 2022-23 Nations League.

Trinidad and Tobago will join the United States, Jamaica and the winner of a playoff in Group A.

Additionally, Nicaragua has been relegated from League A of the 2023-24 Nations League, and will also be replaced by Trinidad and Tobago in that competition.

Though CONCACAF did not name the ineligible player who featured for Nicaragua, multiple reports have identified the player in question as Richard Rodríguez.

Rodríguez was born in Uruguay and moved to Nicaragua in 2018 when he signed for Real Estelí. He acquired Nicaraguan citizenship just a year later in 2019 and would begin playing for the national team shortly thereafter.

The forward played in World Cup qualifiers as well as Nations League games, but FIFA regulations state that an over-18 player who moves to a new country must live there for five consecutive years before they are eligible to play for their new national team.

That would only make Rodríguez eligible this year if he had lived in Nicaragua since 2018, but he even left Estelí in 2019 for a stint playing in Paraguay before returning to the Nicaragua side in 2020.

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USMNT to visit Chicago, St, Louis and Charlotte in Gold Cup group stage

The U.S. will face Jamaica, Nicaragua and a team to be determined in Group A

After learning who it would play in the Gold Cup group stage last week, the U.S. men’s national team now knows where it will play.

CONCACAF released the schedule for the 2023 Gold Cup on Tuesday, just days after conducting the draw at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, which will host the final on July 16.

The USMNT will have the honor of opening this year’s Gold Cup on June 24 when it faces Jamaica at Soldier Field in Chicago.

The defending champions will then face the winner of preliminary game No. 9 (one of Curaçao, Saint Kitts and Nevis, French Guiana, or Sint Maarten) on June 28 at CITYPARK in St. Louis, and will conclude Group A play with a match against Nicaragua at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on July 2.

Should the USMNT advance from Group A, its quarterfinal would be on July 9 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati. The semifinal will then be held on July 12 at either Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego or Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, with each stadium set to host one semifinal match.

Meanwhile, Mexico will begin its Group B campaign against Honduras at Houston’s NRG Stadium on June 25, and then face Haiti at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on June 29 and Qatar at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on July 2.

USMNT Gold Cup group stage schedule (times ET)

June 24: United States vs Jamaica – Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, 9:30 p.m.
June 28: Winner Prelims 9 vs United States – CITYPARK, St. Louis, MO, 9:30 p.m.
July 2: United States vs Nicaragua – Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC, 7 p.m.

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Report: Nicaragua allowing boxing card with spectators

An eight-fight boxing card is scheduled for Saturday at the Alexis Arguello Sports Center in Managua, Nicaragua, according to ESPN.

Nicaragua has had a reported 10 coronavirus cases, with two deaths, as of Tuesday. In light of those numbers, sports events – with spectators – are being held in the Central American country.

An eight-fight boxing card is scheduled for Saturday at the Alexis Arguello Sports Center in Managua, according to ESPN.

The promoter, Ricardo Alvarez, is asking fans to sit a meter apart in the stands and other precautions will be taken.

“Here in Nicaragua there is no quarantine,” Alvarez said. “The government of Nicaragua and the Minister of Health have made a great effort so that the pandemic did not leave a mark on this country.”

He went on: “As an extra precaution, we are going to ask fans to not sit together, that they keep one meter of distance between them. And the commissioners, the doctors, the trainers are obviously going to have to wear masks, latex gloves. We have been lucky that the cases we have had have been few and we all need to work, so we are making this effort.

“As a promoter of boxing, we have the responsibility to provide all the fans who go to the event with the necessary conditions for their safety. We will measure the temperature of the participants, commissioners and fans; there will be alcohol in gel, soap, water. The facilities are suitable for this event and we will prioritize the safety and health of all.”

Nicaragua is one of the few countries allowing such events during the pandemic. Soccer and baseball also have been played in front of crowds, according to ESPN. Belarus and South Korea also has allowed some events to be held.