MANAGUA, Nicaragua – A year after making Nicaraguan football history, CD Walter Ferretti is hard at work in preseason hoping to once again leave its mark in the Scotiabank CONCACAF League.
Unlike last season though, there’s a new man in charge in the form of Henry Urbina.
Urbina is no stranger to Walter Ferretti; the Nicaraguan previously managed the club from 2011-13 and returns to the Managua-based club after the departure of former Head Coach Flavio Da Silva.
Urbina’s first priority will be the club’s second participation in the SCL in which it will face Club Franciscain of Martinique in the Round of 16.
With more than a month of preseason training already in the books, Urbina feels optimistic about his team’s state ahead of the first leg in Martinique on August 1.
“We are now in a very tough stage,” said Urbina to LigaPrimera.com.
“The boys have had a good preseason. It’s the fifth straight week in which we’ve been working. We have been working mostly on the physical part and now we are working profoundly on the tactical part,” added Urbina.
In last year’s SCL, Walter Ferretti joined Diriangen as the only Nicaraguan clubs to have advanced from a round of play in a CONCACAF tournament when they eliminated Belize’s Belmopan Bandits 5-1 on aggregate in the Round of 16 in the 2017 SCL.
The Pinoleros almost then became the first Nicaraguan team to advance through two rounds of a CONCACAF tournament but were eliminated 2-1 on aggregate to Plaza Amador of Panama in the quarterfinals.
After the first leg in Martinique on August 1, the two sides will square off in the second leg on August 8 at the Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto in Alajuela, Costa Rica.