TFC's opponent on Wednesday in the preliminary round of the Concacaf Champion's League hails from that rare breed of Central American country where beisbol rules the sporting roost. Real Estelí lacks any manner of international pedigree, and one hour of frustrating Google searches later I'm having trouble nailing down any kind of lineup, nevermind a starting one.
That said, as is customary at Some Canadian Guys whenever Canada or a Canadian club faces opposition that supporters aren't supposed to know about, we've cobbled together a list of fun facts about the club standing between TFC and Concacaf Champions League group stage glory.
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First up. Real Estelí may lack an international record but they boasts an impressive domestic one. They've won the Nicaraguan first division the past five years running.
The club has a lone previous appearance in the Concacaf Champions League. That was in 2008 and they lost 1-0 on aggregate to the Montreal Impact in the preliminary round. Montreal won the first game 1-0 at home before drawing nil-nil in the away leg, which was played in Honduras for some reason. This was the same year Montreal made its wild run to the quarterfinals.
Real dominates Nicaraguan football, just like Barcelona dominates Spanish football. And the Nicaraguans have ripped their entire reason for being from the famous Catalan club too. On the official website supporters are thanked for permitting Real to ser algo mas que un equipo de Fulbol.
The official Real Estelí supporters' club is called the Barra Kamikaze. Based on
Well, if Real fans are having a go at TFC, it's only fair to mention that Real's nickname El Tren del Norte at best lacks imagination and at worst sucks. Nothing monumental has happened in the club's 51-year history that has anything to do with a train, other than the fact the squad probably rides one from time to time to get places. And guess which end of Nicaragua they hail from?
Prices for tickets for the second leg in Nicaragua come in two levels: $4.20 and $8.40, Canadian currency.
The results of an online poll taken on what looks to be a broad-based Nicaraguan football portal show 51.4% of respondents believe Real Estelí will beat Toronto FC and qualify for the group stages. Betfair is slightly less confident in the Nicaraguans, giving them 4.6 odds to win against 1.13 for TFC.
Last but far from least, Real Estelí is embroiled in a full-fledged kit controversy! (Exclamation mark mine.) Supporters erupted in a wild frenzy of Internet fury on Monday when it was reported that Real would switch from their traditional red and white colours for the match against TFC for a blue and white getup, to better reflect the national colours of Nicaragua. But apparently that's not true. So controversy short-lived.