Monday, 15 March 2021, 3.30 pm local time (8.30 pm UTC), Ivan Elias Moreno Stadium (neutral ground), Lima, Peru, 1st round of Stage 1, Group B, Peruvian First Division (Liga 1).
The wait is over, and eventually the Peruvian First Division started again, amidst the same pandemic as last year, and under the same conditions: all matches are played on neutral grounds, in Lima and Callao.
The former Apertura, rebranded as Stage 1, has been rescheduled, so there are two groups of nine teams, because there is not enough time to play a round robin championship before the start of Copa América.
In the first round, Cusco FC faced Alianza Universidad de Huánuco, a team which won all their matches against Cusco since they promoted to the First Division. The same happened again, and even the score, 1-0, was identical to the score registered in the last game between these two teams. And, again, the match was quite balanced, but a single mistake changed everything.
Gonzalo Rizzo (Cusco FC) was sent off in the second half. Source: La República
In the first half, Alianza Universidad started strongly but gradually lost their impetus. Except for the first minutes, Cusco FC dominated the game, seemed to be in control, attacked more, but had very few chances. A long range shot by Rivera, easily saved by Morales, was their biggest chance in the first half. On the other hand, Alianza Universidad waited patiently and counterattacked dangerously. Landauri missed the target twice, but their biggest opportunity came when Manicero's shot from the edge of the box was saved by Hermoza.
The same pattern continued in the second half, but things got worse for Cusco. Reimond Manco even got a ball in the center of the box, all alone, but completely missed the execution, so Hermoza was able to catch the ball. Then, Figueroa mistakenly passed to Manco, and had to stop him in front of the box to avoid the first goal (55'). Despite Cusco's overall domination and ball possession, Alianza Universidad had clearer goal-scoring chances.
This led Cusco's manager, Carlos Ramacciotti, to change almost the entire line of midfielders, introducing Tello, Abisab and Carranza (61'). A risky move, which had effects almost immediately, but in a reverse sense compared to what Ramacciotti had imagined. A free kick from more than 40 meters was executed by Manicero, the ball went over the crowded box, and Hermoza could only deviate the ball into the side post, from where it came back in the middle of the box to Juan Morales, whose shot was saved by Rizzo from the goal line, using his hand (67').
The referee awarded the penalty, while Rizzo received a red card and was sent off. Neumann transformed the penalty: 1-0 (68').
Carlos Neumann transformed the penalty which decided the winner. Source: depor.com
Down to ten men, Cusco FC made a very good game until the end, putting a lot of pressure on the opponents, and leaving large spaces back in the defense. However, Alianza Universidad did not seem interested to take any benefits from this lack of defense from the part of Cusco FC, and mainly defended their fragile advantage. This could have proven wrong in the end, because Cusco had their biggest opportunity in the stoppage time, when Yorkman Tello, unmarked, missed a simple shot from 6 meters after a corner by Abisab (90'+1').
Alianza Universidad: D. Morales - Chávez (D. Carbajal 85'), Ávila, Cánova, C. Carbajal - Manicero, J. Morales - Ísmodes (Vílchez 72'), Manco (Peña 72'), Landauri (Cavero 58') - Neumann (Espinosa 85'). Manager: Ronny Revollar.
Cusco FC: Hermoza - Caraza (Barreiro 89'), Figueroa, Rizzo, Céspedes - Gonzales, Aubert (Carranza 61') - Uscamayta (Tello 61'), Ramúa (Abisab 61'), Rivera (Rengifo 82') - Montes. Manager: Carlos Ramacciotti.
Referee: Bruno Pérez.
Yellow cards: Landauri 45'+1', Manicero 60' - Figueroa 55', Tello 85'.
Red card: Rizzo (Cusco) 67'.
This defeat raises lots of questions regarding Cusco FC, which were supposed to be one of the strongest teams in the Peruvian league this year. Their first game showed lots of weaknesses, in all compartments, defense, midfield and attack. Except for the rather desperate and chaotic attacks in the final minutes of the game, they were unable to attack dangerously by using elaborate passing and attacking tactics. The playmakers, Ramúa, then Abisab, missed most of the decisive balls, meant to create a goal opportunity. Montes tried hard but achieved almost nothing, Rivera and Carranza seemed a bit below their usual level, shown last year, Uscamayta is way too inexperienced, and Sandro Rengifo was sent in too late, although he showed in 10 minutes more than most of the others in 90 minutes.
On Saturday, Cusco FC will face Cienciano in a much expected local derby.
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