Nicaragua have brought a vastly inexperienced side to take on South Africa in the World Cup warm-up friendly on Friday, including a 17-year-old.
While Bafana Bafana look to use the international at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto to fine-tune preparations for the World Cup, Nicaragua are looking to rebuild under their new Argentine coach Juan Cruz Real, who has five uncapped players in his squad.
At 17, Efraín Mejía is the youngest and has previously played for the country’s under-20 team. Almost all the players are home-based with a sprinkling from clubs in nearby Costa Rica and the 19-year-old Amadeus Zamora, who is German-born and plays for the under-20 side of fourth-tier Chemnitzer FC.
Striker Ariagner Smith, who plays club football in Kazakhstan, was named in the squad but cannot play against South Africa because the match falls outside of the international window.
He will, however, be available for Nicaragua when they fly on from Johannesburg to Paraguay to help another World Cup-bound country prepare for next month’s tournament in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. They take on Paraguay in Asunción on June 3.
Nicaragua go into Friday’s international having lost six of their last eight outings, and finishing last in their World Cup qualifying group last November.
New coach Cruz Real has left out most of the players who competed in the World Cup qualifiers, although there are also several injuries to regulars, like Juan Barrera, Byron Bonilla, Josué Quijano, Christian Reyes, and Ariel Arauz.
"We aim to establish a foundation in the tactical principles we want to use. We aren't focusing on the types of opponents because we know both are ranked higher than us. We want to take advantage of this so the players have an idea of what we'll be looking for on the field and start thinking about official competitions in the future," Real said last week when he named the squad to travel to South Africa and Paraguay.
NICARAGUA SQUAD:
Goalkeepers: Alvar López (Managua), Darryl Parker (Real Esteli), Adonis Pineda (Punrarenas, Costa Rica)
Defenders: Justing Cano (Diriangen), Steven Cáceres (Managua), Joab Gutiérrez (Real Esteli), Ebert Martínez, Leyner Moses (Real Esteli), Anyelo Velásquez (Diriangen)
Midfielders: Oliver Bello (Real Esteli), Edgar Castillo (Sebaco), Jason Coronel (Real Esteli), José Martínez (Managua), Efraín Mejía (Sebaco), Jonathan Moncada (Diriangen), Jacob Montes (RWD Molenbeek, Belgium), Jefferson Rivera (Perez Zeledón), Osmin Salinas, Widman Talavera (both Real Esteli), Amadeus Zamora (Chemnitzer, Germany)
Forwards: Raheem Cole (Punrarenas, Costa Rica), Jorge García (Matagalpa), Ariagner Smith (FC Ulytau Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan).