MIAMI — The 2024 Concacaf Central American Cup continues with three encounters on Wednesday, as the 20 best clubs compete to qualify for the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup and crowned a new champion in December.
Four clubs will make their debut in the competition during the second matchday. Comunicaciones FC and Deportivo Saprissa will make their second consecutive appearance after forming part of the inaugural edition.
Managua FC vs. CSD Municipal
Managua FC meets CSD Municipal at the National Football Stadium in Managua, Nicaragua. Both clubs will make their debut in the tournament.
Managua FC will participate for the third time in an international tournament after finishing as the second-best-placed team on the aggregate points table in Nicaragua's Apertura and Clausura tournaments.
CSD Municipal will look to return to the Concacaf Champions Cup after winning the competition in 1974 and finishing runner-up in 1995. It last participated in the Concacaf Champions Cup in the 2015/16 edition.
The last time Municipal faced a Nicaraguan rival was 46 years ago, in the 1978 Concacaf Champions Cup, when they defeated Universidad Centroamericana 5-1on May 21, 1978, and 3-0 on May 28, 1978.
CD Luis Ángel Firpo vs. Comunicaciones FC
Luis Ángel Firpo welcomes Comunicaciones to the Jorge "El Mágico" González Stadium in San Salvador, El Salvador. The teams will meet for the first time at the Central American Cup and the seventh time in a Concacaf club tournament.
Both teams have two wins over the other all-time, with two draws. The teams last met 19 years ago in the 2005 Copa Interclubes, a 4-2 win for Luis Ángel Firpo.
LA Firpo will debut in the Central American Cup after qualifying as the best-placed team in the accumulated table of the 2023/24 season. The club has participated in 11 editions of the Concacaf Champions Cup and is looking to return after last appearing in the 2013/14 edition.
Comunicaciones returns to the tournament after reaching the quarterfinals in the inaugural edition. By way of the play-in round, the Guatemalan club qualified to the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup and is looking to qualify again after winning the trophy in the 1978 edition.
Deportivo Saprissa vs. AD Guanacasteca
Deportivo Saprissa and AD Guanacasteca face off at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium in San Juan, Costa Rica. The Costa Rican counterparts will face each other for the first time in a Concacaf club competition.
The two most recently met last Wednesday in the second matchday of the Apertura 2024 season. Saprissa won 3-1 at the National Stadium in San Jose. The match was scoreless until the final twenty minutes as Orlando Sinclair (82’) and José Córdoba (84’) traded goals until Mariano Torres (88’) and Luis Díaz (90’+4’) gave Saprissa the victory.
Deportivo Saprissa returned to the Central American Cup by winning the Apertura 2023 title. The club went unbeaten in the 2023 group stage before being eliminated in the quarterfinals by eventual finalists Real Estelí. Saprissa qualified for the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup in the Play-In round. Los Morados will seek to return to the CCC, a competition it won in 1993, 1995, and 2005.
The last time Deportivo Saprissa faced a Costa Rican rival in a Concacaf club tournament was Group A of the inaugural edition of the Central American Cup, when they defeated CS Cartaginés 1-0 on August 3, 2023.
AD Guanacasteca will debut in a Concacaf club tournament after qualifying due to its
third-place finish in the overall standings in Costa Rica. The Pamperos will be the fifth Costa Rican team to participate in the Central American Cup.
