First defeat for Juan Reynoso as head coach of Real Garcilaso: 1-0 away at Universidad César Vallejo

In the 11th round of the Peruvian Apertura, Real Garcilaso played away at Estadio Mansiche in Trujillo, against Universidad César Vallejo, on Saturday evening. The home side clearly dominated the entire game, as the tactics that seemed to be chosen by Juan Reynoso, head coach of Real Garcilaso, was to defend well and to try to score on the counter. The counterattacks were so rare, that it looked like a 0-0 was everything the visitors were looking after. However, Real Garcilaso did have two chances to score, one in the first half by Cossío, and one in the second half, by Souza.

However, this ultra-defensive tactic did not pay off because Universidad César Vallejo eventually scored, in the 84th minute. Paradoxically, the goal came after a counter-attack, quickly released by Universidad César Vallejo as their opponents lost the ball in one of the few attacks they had throughout the entire game. Rodas finalized with a shot from inside the area and gave 3 deserved points to the newly-promoted team.

Rodas scored the only goal of the game. Source: ovacion.pe

Real Garcilaso tried hard to equalize in the last minutes of the game, but to no avail.

Universidad Cesar Vallejo:  R. Fernández - Rostaing, Garces, Fleitas, Rodas - Quinteros, Ysique - Medina (72 A. Sanchez), Pacheco (71 Benites), R. Garcias - S. Silva (89 Requena). Head coach: Jose del Solar.

Real Garcilaso: Ferreyra - Arismendi, Robles, Quina, Benincasa, Cossío - Núñez (81 Rengifo), Míguez, Archimabud (62 Joao Ortiz) - Lecaros (46 Souza), Carando. Head coach: Juan Reynoso.

Referee: Augusto Menendez.

After two initial wins, this is the third consecutive disappointing result for Real Garcilaso and the first defeat under head coach Juan Reynoso. The previous two games were an away 0-0 draw to last classified Sport Boys and a home 1-1 draw against Sporting Cristal.

While it is too early to make any "definitive" statements, a few facts are easy to notice. First of all, the starting XI is changed from game to game, especially in the upper part, in midfield and attack. This is partly because of the obvious lack of form of the two strikers, Carando and Rengifo, who were unable to score a single goal in 11 games. On the other hand, Alfredo Ramúa was not used in this game, although he is the all-time goalscorer of Real Garcilaso, and he was often used as a substitute in previous games, by any of the two coaches Real Garcilaso had this season, which raises some questions, because Ramúa is the typical team leader whose shape dictates much of the team's results. To keep a player like him on the bench means that he is either unfit or has some problems, or there is an internal problem of some kind.

Among the other players in the attack, Lecaros is used mainly because it is compulsory to have a player born in 1999 (or later) on the field to play a certain number of minutes ("bolsa de minutos"). His shape is ridiculously weak but the club is also ridiculous for not having any other young player in the roster, so he needs to play, no matter what! A similar requirement is for players born in 1997 or 1998, which is the reason why Núñez is playing every single game. His form is rather fine and he is actually the goalscorer for Real Garcilaso this season with 3 goals, but perhaps other players of this age, like Aucca and Velasquez, should also be given a chance.

Well, the best attacking players of Real Garcilaso are, in my opinion, Cristian Souza and Reimond Manco. When they play, one notices that the team performs better. This is why it is difficult to understand how it is possible for them to be left out of the starting XI. Souza came in at half time replacing Lecaros and his skills were clearly visible. Manco, after an exceptional game against Sporting Cristal last week, was not even on the bench and played for the reserves! This is hard to explain.

It is also difficult to explain why would anyone choose a defensive tactics against Universidad César Vallejo, which is a weaker team, player by player, than Real Garcilaso. Using five full backs in front of a newly-promoted team, when you are supposed to fight for the national title, is also ridiculous.

Real Garcilaso is now fifth in the table. Their next game will be on Monday, the 6th of May, at home in Cusco, against Academia Cantolao.

Full results, table and fixtures:

Round 11 (26-28 April 2019)

Academia Cantolao – UTC 0-0

Sport Boys – Pirata FC 2-1

Sport Huancayo – Carlos Mannucci 2-1

Universidad César Vallejo – Real Garcilaso 1-0

Sporting Cristal – Universitario 1-1

Deportivo Municipal – Ayacucho 2-1

Binacional – Melgar 3-1

Alianza Universidad – Unión Comercio 2-2

Alianza Lima – Universidad de San Martín 1-0

2019 Apertura table

1	Binacional	11	9	0	2	33-12	27	Qualified for the play-off
2	Sporting Cristal	11	7	3	1	18-6	24
3	Universitario de Deportes	10	5	3	2	20-14	18
4	Deportivo Municipal	11	5	3	3	14-14	18
5	Real Garcilaso	11	5	2	4	10-9	17
6	Ayacucho FC	11	4	4	3	17-15	16
7	Universidad César Vallejo	11	5	1	5	14-16	16
8	Alianza Lima	11	4	3	4	18-16	15
9	UTC	11	3	6	2	14-13	15
10	Alianza Universidad	11	3	6	2	11-9	15
11	FBC Melgar	11	4	3	4	12-14	15
12	Academia Cantolao	11	2	6	3	8-8	12
13	Carlos Mannucci	11	3	2	6	14-18	11
14	Unión Comercio	11	2	5	4	8-12	11
15	Sport Huancayo	10	2	4	4	10-15	10
16	Universidad San Martín	11	2	4	5	9-18	10
17	Pirata FC	11	2	3	6	11-16	9
18	Sport Boys	11	1	2	8	3-19	5

Round 12 (3-6 May 2019)

Unión Comercio – Ayacucho

Carlos Mannucci – Alianza Lima

UTC – Deportivo Municipal

Melgar – Sport Huancayo

Universidad de San Martín – Sport Boys

Pirata FC – Sporting Cristal

Alianza Universidad – Binacional

Universitario – Universidad César Vallejo

Real Garcilaso – Academia Cantolao