Nicaraguan footballers playing on but players fear coronavirus

Players of Diriangen FC dispute the ball during training before the soccer match against Juventus Managua, while in the rest of the world the activities were suspended following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Masaya, Nicaragua April 4, 2020. [REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas]

Football in Nicaragua is enjoying a surge in popularity as one of the few national leagues where games are still ongoing but players in action there are concerned about the spread of the new coronavirus and say fear has changed the way they play.

“We try to avoid touching other players,” Carlos Mosquera, a goalkeeper with Deportivo Las Sabanas, told Reuters. “Football has changed because you don’t go in for a 50-50 ball with the same intensity.”