Month: April 2020

Peru. One can feel vertigo just trying to explain Peruvian championship structure. Top and lower levels were somewhat mixed, which concerned promotion and relegation. The top championship was divided into 2 phases, culminated by final group of 6 teams deciding the champion. But there was not clear-cut separation of first and second phase – somehow, the first phase determined the teams playing in the second phase, yet, each phase had its own conclusion. Lower level teams seemingly appeared at one point, playing against some unlucky top level starters for places in the next year championship, yet, there was relegation and promotion as well – 1 teams up, 1 team down. Perhaps the best is to start with second level winner and proceed to the top championship with explanations for each phase.

Guardia Republiclana (Lima) was the champion of second level this year. This way they seemingly earned promotion to the top level. Club Circolo Sportivo Guardia Republicana was a very new club, founded in 1981 and judging by the name – related to the Military. Which explains there rapid climb to the top of Peruvian football. One may wonder about their fan base – did they have any fans? Doubtful, for Lima had old and popular clubs and hardly anybody could suddenly chose to put his heart to some upstart, but state-sponsored clubs hardly ever need fans for their existence.

Speaking of lower levels, Peru had another champion – the winner of somewhat mysterious Copa Peru. What kind of clubs played in it and what the trophy was worth? Hard to tell, looking at the champion:

Hungaritos Agustinos (Iquitos) won Copa Peru, adding its name to rather long list of previous winners. Standing from left: Marden Macedo, Mario Melendez, Ramirez, ‘Timon’ Sandoval, Esteban Angulo, Roman Flores.

First row: Adriel Cardama, Oscar ‘Payasito’ Calvo, Edgar Ferreyra, Jorge Navas, Rafael ‘Candelita’ Rengifo.

Unheard of club, which even victorious, would remain unheard of. The city of Iquitos had its own popular and well known club, which apparently was not rivaled by Hungaritos Agustinos. Whatever HA won, it did not propel them to visibility. They were just a footnote, somehow. Yet, it was strange in the grand picture – already there were quite famous clubs, which were equally invisible: Defensor (Lima) was out of the picture, for example. Apparently, they were lost somewhere in the swamp of second level. But where exactly lurked Hungaritos Agustinos?

Paraguay. Small leagues present one central problem: how many games a team should play in a year. It is no good – from any angle – to have too few. 10-team league needs more games, so the Paraguayan championship was organized in 4 stages – in the first 3 every team played once against all others and in the 4th final stage the best 6 competed for the title. The best 6 teams played 32 games that way – a reasonable number. One team was relegated and one moved up from Second Division.

Sport Colombia (Asuncion) won the Second Division championship and was promoted.

First Division. Eventually, 4 teams were unable to reach the final stage – as most top division clubs hailed from Asuncion, the weaklings were mostly from the capital as well: Libertad, River Plate, and Atletico Colegiales.

Sportivo Luqueno was the 4th lowly team this year. Standing from left: Cristóbal Villa, Marcos Aquino, Gustavo Jara, Francisco Velloso, Edgar Morales, Cornelio Rolón.

Crouching: Nicolás Azuaga, Arísitdes Saldívar, Salvador Medina, Hugo Fernández, Cipriano Romero.

River Plate (Asuncion) was relegated – they were quite weak during the season, but hardly the worst performer, so the reason for relegation could be the popular in South America ‘relegation table’, taking into account not a single season, but 5 consecutive season. River Plate is not one of the successful Paraguayan clubs, so relegation was quite normal.

The top 6 played the final round-robin stage and positioned themselves as follows:

San Lorenzo (San Lorenzo) – 6th. They lost all final games.

Guarani (Asuncion) – 5th with 6 points. They scored most goals at this stage: 14. However… why were they 5th? Cerro Porteno got only 3 points at the final stage… Well, bonus points were carried over from the 3 earlier stages and Guarani had 0. Cerro Porteno, however, had 4 bonus points.

Cerro Porteno (Asuncion) ended 4th with 7 points. It was a very strange and uneven season – Cerro played very strong 2 stages and and was very weak in the other two. Ups and down – winning the 1st stage, then dropping down to 8th place in the second stage, winning the third stage, weak in the final stage. They were the team with most bonus points, but that was all.

Sol de America (Asuncion) – 3rd with 7 points. Their earlier stages were far from strong and they came to the final tournament with 1 bonus point. Standing from left: Marcelino Blanco, Elías Leguizamón, Eugenio Pereira, Vicente Fariña, Jorge Battaglia, Teresio Centurón.

Crouching: Julio C. Achucarro, Pedro Garay, Cristino Centurión, José Alfonso, Jorge Cartamán.

Nacional (Asuncion) took 2nd place with 8 points. 2 bonus points placed them above Sol de America and clinched them the 2nd Paraguayan spot in Copa Libertadores.

Little need to name the champion: Olimpia (Asuncion), of course. Judging from their performance in the earlier stages, it looked like it was not going to be their year – they did not win any stage. But were absolutely superior at the final stage: 4 wins and 1 tie. Even without bonus points they were on top. As it was, they had 2 bonus points – they were not on top gear in the earlier stages, but finished 2nd twice and once 3rd – it was just great timing, aimed at the most important final tournament. It was wise, vastly experienced squad, knowing perfectly how to get results – and it was also double-edged situation. The team was pretty much the same since 1977 or 1978, so the players were more than comfortable playing with each other, everything was smooth for a long time. But it was aging squad and that was dangerous – it was time to start rebuilding, but why changing successful team? The usual dilemma, perhaps aggravated by the Paraguayan predicament: small pool of talent. Good to refresh the squad, but with whom? Talented players preferred to play abroad and whoever was around was no match to aging, but still better than most regulars of Olimpia. This was a team winning 6 consecutive tittle, started in 1978 and losing only the 1984 championship. Only to bounce back on top in 1985. Why changing anything? Why changing the most successful squad in Paraguayan history, the one which bettered the old record of 5 consecutive titles, also hold by Olimpia? Just pile up trophies and there was difficulty counting them already.

 

First Division. Simple matter – standard league championship, involving 20 teams. Chile was reducing the league for the next season from 20 to 18 teams, so the last 3 were relegated and only one team was promoted from Second Division. The championship was fairly entertaining, for the teams proved to be quite equal and the battle for both title and survival went on to the end.

O’Higgins finished last with 21 points – obviously, weaker than the rest and an outsider this championship. Down they went.

Deportes Arica – 19th with 27 points and relegated.

San Luis – 18th with 28 points and the third relegated team.

Union San Felipe – 17th with 30 points.

Deportes Concepcion – 16th with 31 points.

Deportes Iquique – 15th with 32 points.

Audax Italiano – 14th with 34 points.

Union La Calera – 13th with 35 points.

Huachipato – 12th with 36 points.

Naval – 11th with 38 points.

Magallanes – 10th with 39 points.

Universidad de Chile – 9th with 39 points.

Rangers – 8th with 40 points.

Palestino – 7th with 40 points. They scored most goals this championship: 66.

Universidad Catolica – 6th with 45 points.

Cobresal – 5th with 46 points.

Union Espanola – 4th with 48 points.

Colo Colo – 3rd with 49 points.

Everton – 2nd with 50 points.

Cobreloa won the championship with 52 points. 21 wins, 10 ties, 7 losses, 65-24 goal-difference. Standing from left: Carlos Rojas, Eduardo Fournier, Eduardo Gomez, Enzo Escobar, Armando Alarcon, Hugo Tabilo. First row: Fidel Davila, Jorge Garcia, Juan Carlos Letelier, Hector Puebla, Juan Covarrubias. The names hardly ring any bells, but Cobreloa already established itself among the top Chilean clubs. This title was not an easy one – 5 other opponents could have win it – but the victory was a sign of maturity precisely for that: pursuit by equally strong teams, Cobreloa still managed to come on top.

Third title for Cobreloa – and all started in 1978!