Peru Championship

 

 

The Championship group was a drama on another level. Not everything was dramatic, of course – something was predictable and in line with usual outcomes of such championship schemes – at least 2 clubs just went through the motions. They had no real strength to compete for the title and for them seemingly the season finished after the first stage: they managed to get into the championship group, guaranteeing themselves a place in the league for the next season.

Judging by their record in the final stage, Union Hural did not bother at all – they won 1 match, tied 4, and lost 9. With 6 points, they were far behind all other participants. Clearly, for them the championship ended with the first stage – back there, they tied 15 out of 30 matches, got 31 points – one more than poor Leon (Huanaco), and thus achieved untroubled survival.

Similarly, Deportivo Junin did not play for anything in the final stage – they were lucky to get the last spot in the group, thanks to better goal-difference than Leon (Huanuco) and just watched their rivals going down, down, down. It could have been them – but they were safe in the upper group. With nothing to play for, they ended 7th , distinguishing themselves as the club receiving the most goals in their net in the final stage.

Alfonso Ugarte (Puno) was the third club not really interested.

Standing, from left: Roberto Arrelucea, unknown, Néstor Vargas, Jorge Arrelucea, unknown.

First row: Francisco “Pancho” González, Alberto “Pulga” Peña, José Leiva, Marcelo Apaza, Cisterna, Gutiérrez.

Alfonso Ugarte finished 5th in the first stage and 5th in the second. Like Deportivo Junin and Union Huaral, they had no team to speak of. Solid performance in the first stage was seemingly all that mattered for them and once achieving their goal, they took it easy. 13 points placed them at the top of the lower, disinterested half of the final championship group.

Just bellow them finished the team making the championship dramatic. Universitario won confidently the first stage and entered the final stage with 3 bonus points. Even without all that, they were traditional contender and one of the most obvious candidates for the title. But… they had the second worst record in the final group and finished 6th.

The big failure, from left: Víctor “Cacique” Bustamante, Hugo “Cantinflas” Gastulo, Fernando “Gato” Cuéllar, Germán “Cocoliche” Leguía. Ernesto “Chivo” Neyra, Freddy Cañamero, David Zuluaga, Juan José Oré, Percy Vilchez, Eduardo Aguilar, Eusebio “Chevo” Acasuzo.

Perhaps the squad reveals why played so badly – it was not a great team. Not enough class, not enough stars. May be they spent their strength in the first phase, when their rivals played economically. Universitario were a big disappointment. They won only twice in the important tournament. They lost 8 matches – only Union Huaral lost more. May be there was a grim lesson in all that: in championship organized in such format the biggest mistake is to put efforts in the first phase. It spells disaster. The bonus points did not help at all… but what is really mysterious is that at the end Universitario did not get those 3 points from the first stage – the final table tells that they got only 1 point! Why? Who knows… and may be not important, for even with 3 bonus points Universitario would be only 5th, instead of 6th. Hardly a difference.

The other dramatic disappointment was Alianza (Lima) – historically, the prime candidate for the title. Some lack of form was detected in the first phase, where the team finished 4th. Not bad, but they were distant 4th – far behind the winners, not even competing for the 2nd or 3rd place. Still favourites, expected to bloom in the important phase. They did not… once again they finished 4th. Far ahead of the lower half of the championship group, but not contenders at all. 7 tied matches of total 14 – really nothing.

Strange… Alianza had the two world class stars in their team – Cubillas and Sotil. The current most exciting Peruvian player – Cueto. Aging, but still great stars Velazquez, La Rosa. Heroes of two impressive World Cups, still the top players of Peru. The best Peruvian squad, judging by the names. Lack of form must have been the reason – temporary lack of form, not a decline. Yet, disastrous season for Alianza.

Juan Aurich capitalized on their 2 bonus points from the first stage. They kept steady, if not great form in the final phase and finished with bronze medals. Success. Yes, they were not going to play in the Libertadores Cup, but finished ahead of Alianza and Universitario. And for this smaller Peruvian club bronze medals were a big achievement. They had no real strength to run for the title – in both phases of the championship, Juan Aurich competed only for a medal – silver or bronze, either one was great.

Entangled with Juan Aurich in the fight for the second place was an unexpected team – Atletico Chalaco. The first stage did not suggest anything like that – ‘El Leon Porteno’ finished 7th. It was largely a matter of good luck they ended in the championship group and not in the relegation group. There immediate neighbors in the first phase did not bother to do much in the final stage. Atletico Chalaco surprisingly soared and finished 2nd – a point ahead of Juan Aurich, who entered the finals with 2 points advantage. The team excelled in defense – the best in the final tournament – but they were not up to competing for the title.

Surprising heroes, from left: Oscar Arizaga, Félix Suárez, Gonzalo Cayo, Víctor Matías, Víctor “Pichicho” Benavides, Pablo Muchotrigo, Luis Enrique Camacho, José Sierra, Julio Luna, Fernando Apolinario, Augusto Prado.

Atletico Chalaco is largely unknown club to the world, but they are old – founded in 1902 by students of Instituto Chalaco in Callao, hence, the name. Much older by their local rivals Sport Boys, but dwarfed by them long time ago – Sport Boys still ranks the 4th most successful Peruvian club. Atletico Chalaco is not at the same level – they were Peruvian champions twice, but so long ago, that their titles hardly come to mind. Atletico Chalaco were often found in the second level, so playing top flight was counting as success. 1979 was obviously great year for them: it would have been even without finishing that high – they played in the championship group when the enemy, Sport Boys, was in the relegation group – but finishing with silver medals was fantastic. For more they were not capable. But they got the second Peruvian spot in Copa Libertadores – a rare chance for playing big international football.

The final tournament was largely one-horse race – Sporting Cristal, perhaps fresher than all others, won confidently. They did not played large role in the first stage – just staying at the top, but may be conserving their best for the finals. They finished 3rd, not looking very interested in first place. 1 bonus point was some minimal advantage, but the club seemingly did not even need it. Sporting Cristal won 9 of their 14 final matches. They lost only once. No problems in defense, ending with the second best record, but their big strength was attack – the only team scoring more than 20 goals in the final stage. 26 in fact, almost 2 goals per game. 23 points – 4 more than the next club. Easy victory.

Champions again – 4th title and their first since 1972. Sporting Cristal was always fighting for the title, this time they won it easily. And they looked more promising team than Alianza – Chumpitaz, Mifflin, Quiroga, Navarro, Oblitas, Uribe. Alianza was a strong, but aging team. Yesterday’s team, in a sense. Sporting Cristal had great veterans too – Chumpitaz and Mifflin – but their strength was in current and future stars, particularly Uribe. They were clearly going to stay among the best Peruvian clubs, aiming at more tittles. Establishing themselves as one of the top 4 Peruvian clubs.

For they were not that in 1979: big clubs are usually old. Sporting Cristal was young… they were founded in 1955. Yet, their history is curious – before ‘Los Cerveceros’, there was a first division club from the same part of Lima – Sporting Tabacco, founded in 1926 and belonging to the tobacco growers’ union. They had more than modest existence, never won anything, and in the beginning of the 1950s were in deep economic dire straits. Then the owner of Backus and Johnston Brewery, Ricardo Bentin Mujica, bought the club and also bought a lot for a stadium in the neighborhood of La Florida. The old Sporting Tobacco was not merely renamed – instead, a new club under the name Sporting Cristal was founded on December 13, 1955. It was named after the best-known brand of the beer company – to a point, it was convenient advertisement of the company – hence, the nickname of the club – but later club and company were separated somewhat. The new boys debuted in first division immediately – in 1956, no doubt taking the place of Sporting Tobacco. The debut was grand: they won the championship. Starting with a title was impressive, but a new club, no matter how ambitious, had to build reputation. Money were not eveything – Sporting Cristal eventually won more titles, yet, they were not overwhelming. Rather, they managed to stay among the top Peruvian clubs. Their 4th title was won in 1972, and although already considered one of the best clubs in Peru, still had to wait 7 years for the next success. With it perhaps Sporting Cristal finally established itself as one of big clubs of the country – along with Alianza and Universitario. As for relation with Sporting Tobacco, it remains ambiguous – certainly half of the name is taken from the old club. But the foundation date remains 1955, maintaining that there is no connection between the two Sporting. And still it is not complete break: colours were changed in 1955 – the blue of Sporting Tobacco was replaced by sky-blue of Sporting Cristal. But… the old blue was used as home colours between 1978 and 1981 and after that – often as away colours. Of course, there was nothing to be proud of and therefore to claim from the history of Sporting Tobacco – it was much more impressive to win 5 titles in less than 30 years of existence.