3-1 instead of 2-2

Sport Huancayo - Cusco FC 3-1 (2-1)

Huaccha 8', Lliuya 25', Á. Pérez 90'+3' - F. Rodríguez 43'.

Monday, 10 July 2023, 3:15 pm local time (8:15 pm UTC), IPD Huncayo Stadium, Huancayo, Peru, 3rd round of Clausura, Peruvian First Division.

This match could have had a completely different story. Sport Huancayo started off very well and scored very early in the game, when Benites and Huaccha combined easily in the opposite box, although surrounded by four Cusco defenders, and eventually Huaccha remained all alone with Ferreyra and chose the far post: 1-0 (8').

 Ronal Huaccha (Sport Huancayo) celebrated the first goal of the game. Photo source: Fútbol Peruano

Obviously, the visitors tried to give a reply and slowly took possession of the midfield, but their attacks did not create any real danger. On the contrary, Sport Huancayo replied on fastbreaks, which were far more dangerous. In one of such occasions, Huaccha passed the ball back to Lliuya, unmarked at the edge of the box, and he had enough time to hit the ball at the right angle, to the left of Ferreyra: 2-0 (25').

This looked like the end of story, and certainly the home side felt that way, because they returned to an almost exclusively defensive stance, with no regard for further attacks. Cusco FC, in the meantime, struggled hard to find ways to penetrate the opposite defence, and eventually they succeeded, right before the half time. Their best offensive player, Felipe ("Felucho") Rodríguez, received a pass inside the box and managed to trick Valoyes into committing a foul. The same Rodríguez transformed the penalty: 2-1 (43').

The second half was much more spectacular, although less goals were scored. In fact, only one, in stoppage time. But until then, Cusco FC missed so many opportunities, that anyone would have expected the match to end in a 2-2 draw, rather than 3-1 for Sport Huancayo. But such is football, missing chances are to be paid in full, this time with a defeat.

The first chance came right after the kick-off, Da Luz crossed from the right and Ayarza headed well, but Zamudio saved amazingly (46'). Cusco FC did score, but the goal was cancelled. After a corner, Quina headed towards the goal and Da Luz pushed the ball in from very short range, but VAR decided he was offside (51'). The same Da Luz benefitted from a smart move from Olivares, who let the ball pass beyond him, and Da Luz remained one on one with the goalkeeper, but Zamudio blocked again (57').

Then, centre back Federico Alonso had two great chances, both after set pieces (corners) from the right side. The first time, his header went slightly wide (64'). The second time, he was on target, but Zamudio had an incredible intervention and saved (78').

In the final minutes, Pablo Peirano introduced three more attacking players, initially Díaz and Cantoro, and then Arakaki, maintaining both Felucho Rodríguez and Olivares in the field. It was the kind of "all or nothing" tactics, which eventually proved wrong in this case. First of all, because Cusco FC attacks became less dangerous. And perhaps more important, they lost the midfield and the control of the game. Sport Huancayo, which played almost nothing for most of the second half, was able to take control of the game once again, and to keep possession for longer time, because Cusco FC had many men in the attack, but not enough players in the midfield. There was noone there to give useful balls to the attackers, while all the long balls were easily cleared by a very careful Sport Huancayo defense.

Even more, Sport Huancayo kept the ball as far from their own half as possible, and why not, very close to Cusco's box, where they passed at will, having numerical superiority. Eventually, this turned out to be in their favour, and the match was solved once and for all with the third goal of Sport Huancayo, which came in the third minute of stoppage time. Subs Rojas and Pérez passed inside the Cusco's box, and the latter turned and scored from an excellent position: 3-1 (90'+3').

Sport Huancayo: Zamudio - Huamán, Valoyes, Colombo, Ángeles - Salcedo, Lliuya - Ross, R. Gómez (Escobar 81'), Benites (Rojas 68') - Huaccha (Á. Pérez 81'). Manager: Wilmar Valencia.

Cusco FC: Ferreyra - Estrada, Alonso, Quina, Yovera (Gordillo 46') - Barreto (Guivin 73') - Da Luz (R. Díaz 66'), Vidales (Arakaki 86'), Ayarza (Cantoro 66'), F. Rodríguez - Olivares. Manager: Pablo Peirano.

Referee: Diego Haro.

Yellow cards: Benites 60 - Barreto 30', Guivín 89'.

In the next round, Cusco FC will play at home the local derby against Cienciano, and most likely striker José Fajardo will be available once again, after he missed several matches, being called up for the Panama national team that qualified to the semifinals of the Gold Cup. Sport Huancayo will rest in the next round.

Full results, fixtures and tables:

 

Round 3 (7-10 July 2023)

 

FBC Melgar – Atlético Grau 3-0

Academia Cantolao – Universitario de Deportes 1-4

Alianza Atlético – Universidad César Vallejo 0-1

Cienciano – UTC Cajamarca 2-2

Alianza Lima – Sporting Cristal 0-0

Unión Comercio – Sport Boys 0-1

Deportivo Binacional – Deportivo Garcilaso 1-5

Sport Huancayo – Cusco FC 3-1

Carlos A. Mannucci – Deportivo Municipal postponed

ADT Tarma bye

 

Clausura table

 

1	FBC Melgar	3	2	1	0	9-2	7	Qualified for the play-offs
2	Deportivo Garcilaso	3	2	1	0	8-3	7
3	Universitario de Deportes	3	2	1	0	7-2	7
4	Sporting Cristal	3	2	1	0	5-0	7
5	Sport Huancayo	3	2	1	0	5-1	7
6	Alianza Lima	3	2	1	0	3-0	7
7	Sport Boys	3	2	0	1	3-2	6
8	Cienciano	3	1	2	0	6-3	5
9	Deportivo Municipal	2	1	0	1	3-2	3
10	Carlos A. Mannucci	2	1	0	1	2-1	3
11	Cusco FC	2	1	0	1	3-4	3
12	ADT Tarma	2	1	0	1	2-4	3
13	Academia Cantolao	3	1	0	2	2-6	3
14	Universidad César Vallejo	3	1	0	2	1-5	3
15	UTC Cajamarca	3	0	2	1	3-4	2
16	Alianza Atlético	3	0	0	3	1-5	0
17	Deportivo Binacional	2	0	0	2	1-7	0
18	Unión Comercio	3	0	0	3	1-7	0
19	Atlético Grau	3	0	0	3	0-7	0

 

Rules for classification (except for first place): 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) drawing of lots.

A play-off is needed to decide the winner if two or more teams are tied on points on top of the table at the end of the tournament.

 

Round 4 (14-17 July 2023)

 

UTC Cajamarca – Alianza Atlético

Universitario de Deportes – Unión Comercio

Deportivo Garcilaso – ADT Tarma

Sporting Cristal – Carlos A. Mannucci

Universidad César Vallejo – Academia Cantolao

Atlético Grau – Deportivo Binacional

Sport Boys – Alianza Lima

Cusco FC – Cienciano

Deportivo Municipal – FBC Melgar

Sport Huncayo bye

 

Aggregate table (Apertura + Clausura)

 

1	Alianza Lima (AW)	21	16	1	4	40-16	49	Qualified for the play-offs & CL
2	Sporting Cristal	21	11	9	1	38-18	42	Qualified for the play-offs & CL
3	Universitario de Deportes	21	13	2	6	36-16	41	Qualified for Copa Libertadores
4	Cusco FC	20	11	2	7	27-26	35	Qualified for Copa Libertadores
5	Sport Huancayo	21	10	4	7	35-26	34	Qualified for C. Sudamericana
6	Deportivo Garcilaso	21	8	8	5	40-30	32	Qualified for C. Sudamericana
7	FBC Melgar	21	8	8	5	33-24	32	Qualified for C. Sudamericana
8	Carlos A. Mannucci	20	9	3	8	19-19	30	Qualified for C. Sudamericana
9	Universidad César Vallejo	21	8	6	7	26-28	30
10	Cienciano	21	8	5	8	29-31	29
11	ADT Tarma	20	6	6	8	25-27	24
12	Sport Boys	21	7	3	11	16-28	24
13	Atlético Grau	21	6	5	10	31-28	23
14	Alianza Atlético	21	6	5	10	33-38	23
15	UTC Cajamarca	21	5	8	8	19-26	23
16	Deportivo Municipal *	20	8	3	9	22-23	21	*
17	Unión Comercio	21	5	4	12	25-47	19	Relegation to Second Division
18	Deportivo Binacional	20	5	3	12	29-41	18	Relegation to Second Division
19	Academia Cantolao	21	3	3	15	11-42	12	Relegation to Second Division

 

* Deportivo Municipal have been deducted 6 points for financial irregularities.

AW – Apertura winners

CW – Clausura winners

Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) drawing of lots; 5) play-off (only if needed to decide teams for relegation)

Bourj and Nejmeh drew in the first game of the Federation Cup

Nejmeh - Bourj 0-0

Saturday, 1 July 2023, 5 pm local time (2 pm UTC), Amin Abdelnour Stadium, Bhamdoun (Aley), Lebanon, first round of the Federation Cup, Group D.

Bourj starting line-up. Photo source: Bourj FC Facebook page

Nejmeh starting line-up. Photo source: Lebanese FA Facebook page

This year, the Lebanese Football Association decided to replace the former Elite and Challenge cups with a single competition, involving all the 12 teams of the Lebanese Premier League, called the Federation Cup. The 12 teams were distributed into four groups of 3 teams, and the winners of each group qualify for the semifinals.

Group D seems to be the toughest one, as it includes three powerful clubs, Nejmeh, Bourj and Safa.

In the first match of the group, Nejmeh and Bourj drew 0-0 after a rather boring game, with few goalscoring situations. Nejmeh missed no less than 7 players who were called up for either the senior national team or the olympic national team of Lebanon, while Bourj also missed a couple of players for the same reason. It was a good opportunity for the other players to make themselves noticed to the managers and the public. 

However, both teams transferred many players recently and the level of homogeneity is still low, and, on the other hand, the preparations for the 2023-2024 season have just begun.

Bourj FC (with Youssef Anbar #77 in the foreground) had more opportunities. Photo source: Bourj FC Facebook page

While Nejmeh enjoyed certain periods of domination in the midfield and in terms of ball possession, Bourj FC had the biggest opportunities to score a goal, especially in the second half. Houssem Louati created a few chances, and the best of them came in the 72nd minute, when he entered a box and passed to Mohamad Zein Tahan to his left, but Tahan's shot was blocked.

Unfortunately, except for Houssem Louati, the other Bourj offensive players did not provide much in this game, and the management would have to think about a foreign striker, because Derrick's performance was average at best. The midfield also suffered a lot in front of less experienced Nejmeh players.

The most important event of the game was that Youssef Anbar suffered an injury in the 80th minute and he will undergo yet another surgery, so he will be out for some time once again.

Bourj starting line-up: Ali Halal - Mohamad El Dor, Khodor Hallak, Shadi Skaf, Youssef Anbar - Mohamad El Faour, Mohamad Sibaii "Wartan" - Mohamad Saleh, Bilal Al Sabbagh, Houssem Louati - Derrick. Seeveral players were introduced in the second half, such as: Abou Baker Al Mel, Mohamed Zein Tahan, Hassan Chaito "Moni", Ibrahim Hammoudi. Manager: Hussein Tahan.

The second match of the group, Nejmeh - Safa, will be played today, while the last match of the group, Bourj - Safa, will be played next Wednesday, 12 July 2023.

During the transfer period (which is not yet over), Bourj FC performed a series of transfers, meant to improve the squad for the 2023-2024. The following players have been brought so far: goalkeeper Ali Halal (from Nejmeh), centre back Mohamad Al Husseini (from Al Ahed), wing back Mohamad Zein Tahan (from Safa), winger Abou Baker Al Mel (returning after a loan spell to Hikma / La Sagesse), central midfielder Bilal Al Sabbagh (from Al Ahed), Tunisian offensive midfielder Houssem Louati (from Ansar), forward Ali Kassas (from Nejmeh), Syrian centre back Ahmed Al Saleh (from Al Jaish, Syria), and midfielder Hassan Chaito "Moni" (from Nejmeh). Only two of them are foreigners, Houssem Louati and Ahmed Al Saleh, and there is place for two more foreigners in the squad, as the Lebanese FA allow four foreigners beginning with the 2023-2024 season. One of them might be the striker from Guinea, Derrick, whose performance so far was not convincing, but he still has a chance to prove his qualities. An Egyptian player was also training with the team, but he will most likely not be part of the squad for the next season. Several players from the youth team have been also promoted to the senior team.

All these players are also meant to replace those (14) who have left Bourj FC during the transfer period. Among those who left are the following players: goalkeepers Hassan Moghnieh (to Shabab Al Ghazieh) and Afif Zreik, centre back Richard Baffour (to Shabab Sahel), left back Mohammad Hammoud, midfielders Mohamad Safwan and Mohamad Omar Sadek (both to Nejmeh), playmakers Khaled Takaji and Youssef Barakat, wingers Hussein Al Outa and Mahmoud Kawar, forwards Ali Hammoud and Mohamad Nassereddine, as well as foreign strikers Dennis Tetteh and Stephen Sarfo. Some of these players, especially Richard Baffour, Mohamad Sadek, Khaled Takaji, and Dennis Tetteh have been instrumental for Bourj FC in the previous season and it will be difficult to find players of similar value. One or two foreign strikers are very much needed, and perhaps a creative midfielder, a "number 10" to replace Khaled Takaji.