Ladies and gentlemen, we are back with the newest edition of "Latin Football Fever".

The whole world was busy during the last couple of days, as many national teams played world cup qualifiers. Latin-America was not an exception too.

Now everything will be back on track as domestic leagues resume, it's the clubs turn from Saturday.

We thought about a lot, what should be the content of this week's edition. The domestic leagues remained in shadow during the qualifying matches, provided almost no important news.

We sought, it is high time to introduce the 1st division of Guatemalan football. The league is really not well known, and we have written many picks about this league already, so there was a strong argument supporting the idea.

The league consists only 10 teams (which will expand to 12 from next season), with the season split between Apertura and Clausura, as usual in Latin-America.

After the regular season(2 rounds league system) starts the play off(cup system, knock out stage). The first 2 teams of the regular season automatically book tickets to the semi finals of play off, while 3-6 placed teams play 2 legged matches to reach it.

In addition, at the end of Clausura, the last team at the accumulated table relegates to 2nd division, and the 2nd and 3rd from behind play vs teams from second division.

When it comes to Guatemalan club football, we must start with CSD Municipal.

This club is undisputedly the most popular club in Guatemala, has won the most league titles, and showed the most stable performances throughout the decades.

The situation is the same nowadays. Municipal has one f the strongest squads, and the longest bench, not a surprise, that they are one of the main candidates for the league title again.

However the team has coaching problems. Since the departure of Trossero, Municipal has struggled to find a good replacement.

The team sold 2 old militants (Figueroa, Medina), due to problems with coach, and called back some youngsters, who were on loan at other teams. Most important among them is Sélvyn Motta, who won el pichichi last year playing for Zacapa, but yet to score in this season, this making him a one season wonder.

The biggest achievement was probably that management could keep the core of the squad together, prolong the contracts of Mário Rodríguez, Freddy García, Jaime Penedo, Guillermo Ramírez, Selvyn Ponciano, Claudio Albizúris.

It will be interesting to see, how can the reach successes at 3 theatres in one time (Champion’s League, Domestic League, National Team).

Municipal’s eternal rival is Comunicaciones. Their duel is called el superclásico”, or „clásico capitalino”  as they are from the capital of the country too. It is the other flagship of Guatemalan football along with their main rival, Municipal.

The team lost 2 important defenders(Cabrera, Contreras), but could replace them with quality NT players(Márquez, C. Castrillo, Gallardo). The biggest fish was the signing of Apellaníz, who was the top scorer of Jalapa, and top scorer of last season’s Clausura. He scored 7 goals in 7 matches in the new season, so the team looks even stronger than it was. Currently they are at the top of the table.

We should continue with Xelajú MC, which is one of the strongest teams from outside the capital, also having great heritage, winning the title four times.

With the departure of Jurado, a lot of players left the team, the half of the defence, and the midfield. However it seems, the team could compensate them with lesser known players, also signing seasoned midfielder Figueroa from Municipal, who gave shape to the midfield. Xelajú’s stadium has always been a hell for visitors, and this tendency looks to continue during this season. We expect them to semi finals definitely.

We continue with the surprise Apertura winner Jalapa. They won their first title ever, but failed to impress since that, missing even the play-off in Clausura. The team tried to do everything to keep the squad together, what’s more strengthen it, as they qualified themselves to the 1st edition of Champion’s League.

The management was not successful Apellaníz, the top scorer left the club, along him, Castrillo, Márquez, Gallardo also gone, leaving a big gap in midfield and defence.

In return, Jurado appointed new coach, bringing with him some quality players from his old club (however their quality was below comparing those, who left). The team signed Israel Silva, to fill the gap which Apellaníz left, but after a couple of good games, he left for Europe. The other notable signing was Oscar Isaula from Malacateco, but alone he will not enough to carry the weight. The team lost the play-off for direct place to Group phase in Champion’s League vs Municipal, and failed to impress in the league either. The humiliating defeat vs Panaman club San Francisco in qualification round marked the end of the short Jurado-era, leaving the club in crisis.

We expect them to reach the play-off in best case.

Petapa was one of the pleasant surprises of last season. They always fought hard, but had been very unlucky, though could prolong their existence in highest level. The instrumental signing was old fox, and keeper of NT Ricardo Trigueno Fóster, who gave so much confidence, that the team reached the semi finals of Clausura, easily reached their primer goal, avoiding relegation.

The team weakened during the off-season, but at least kept Fóster. In spite of this they started well the season, grabbing 7 points in first 3 rounds, but since that, their form is deteriorating. They will have to fight hard to reach the play-offs

Suchitepéquez is one of the traditional powerhouses of Guatemalan club football outside the capital. The team is from Mazatenango, wearing the name of the department. Having won the league one time, in its golden era (the 80’s).

There were not many changes in squad, practically leaving the same equipment. The defence and midfield is no tat its best level, but the formidable Griffiths-Gallo striker duo somehow can compensate it. The team produces a lot of over games due to this. They look pretty average, and will fight for reaching play-off, but minimal chances to get through to the semis.

Not a wise move to declare our personal sympathy towards a team, while writing analysis, but sometimes it happens. The object of our sympathy is Zacapa. The team passed a very hard season, hit by tons of injuries (not one time they missed 8-9 starters), but at the end, with heroic performance,  managed to keep themselves in first level of Guatemalan football. Things turned from bad to worse in the off-season, as the team practically lost 80% of its starting line up.

In return, they could sign only 3 quality players (Munoz, de León, El Chino Estrada), as one of the new quality signing Melgarejo is injured, not even playing 1 official game in team.

The team showed heroic performance during the first rounds, a real catenaccio, but usually not successful at the end. As time passed, the self confidence arrived, and they started to play a more attacking game. Munoz stepped up the crease, and with his leadership, the team won 2 matches in a row, scoring 9 goals, while didn’t conceding any. Munoz scored 6 goals out of these 9. The team currently lies on 2nd place, but we don’t think they will manage to reach the play-offs Sooner or later the lack of long bench will take its toll.

Heredia changed its name to Heredia-Jaguares Petén, as they moved from Morales to Petén department.

The team strengthened a lot during off-season, signed quality players, or at least higher than their previous average. It seems however, the team is not ready yet. True they had some really unlucky games, but only grabbed points count, there are no ifs in the world of sports too.

The team still plays irregular, when we say it, we think about all 3 parts of the team.

Brighter previous years, dark present and future for Marquense. The team was a stable one since they promotion to highest league in 2000, but little by little weakened from year to year. They never had problems with avoiding relegation, but last season its possibility hit them from time to time.

The already weak squad didn’t change much, what’s more weakened a little bit. They became main candidate for last place, and will need a strong fight avoiding it.

 We close the preview with newcomer of the league, Xinabajul Huehuetenango.

The team made its way to the Liga Nacional for the first time ever in its history. The squad mainly consisted of players, who never have had experience at this level. The team needed to be strengthend, and they could sign 3-4 useful players. The team still was a dark horse, and the majority expected them to fight to avoid relegation. The team started very well, showed a brave attacking play, however in latter stages failed to take 3 points. The had internal problems as players didn’t get salary for 1 month. The team had to field a junior team vs Zacapa in last round, and suffered a humiliating loss which marked the end the reigning of the talented Marlon León. No doubt, the team is in down trend, and probably will have to fight to avoid last places.