We are all Tunche Rivera: UnoxUno of the historic comeback of the ‘U’ to the Quito League in the 2024 Copa Libertadores

The first half ends. Heads down. Lead walk to the locker room. There is no coffee inside. On the contrary, there is rethinking. Corzo speaks to me, Riveros encourages me, Polo advises me. We went out onto the field without looking at the scoreboard. We all win this, I think. I see that Ureña grows the lion’s mane and cuts off an attack. I see that Polo gets into the car in his formula one lane and plays with Pérez Guedes. My palpitations are pounding. I tell Martín with my eyes to focus there, in the heart of the area, and I will do the rest. He listens to me. I launch myself and turn LDU upside down. 1-1, down south, I feel that the cream family stand embraces me with its soul.

This can’t end with so little, I think. I get among the Ecuadorian centre-backs, I fight for every ball, I fight for the starting position in every play. Now, I see that Concha filters a pass from the midfielder. The ball is loose. Rodríguez from LDU hesitates, he feels my firm footsteps, he plays with his goalkeeper and the capricious ball does not obey him and just bounces around. It’s my time, I know. I remember my brothers in Tarapoto, the tangerines that my parents sell in a truck, the opportunity in front of me waiting for me to put my century-old meringue punch. I launch myself like I did on the little field in my neighborhood with the chimpunes in front and I win the duel against the goalkeeper. The capricious ball obeys me, it enters the goal bouncing. The silence is broken with a goal shout at the Monumental. There are 60 thousand, there are 70 thousand, there are millions of creamy throats screaming for me. I can be Tunche or I can be you, any fan fulfilling his childhood dream: for Universitario to win in the Cup, in League 1, at home or away. May he always win and much more on his centenary.

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The ‘U’ turned on the light for the Peruvian teams in the 2024 Copa Libertadores. With a great second half and against the current champion of the Copa Sudamericana, those led by Fabián Bustos came back 2-1 at home and began their participation in the tournament with three valuable points.

This is how we saw the cream eleven against LDU de Quito at the Monumental.

The solidity that is consecrated

Although this time the goal could not be kept clean, the defensive line made up of Sebastián Britos, Aldo Corzo, Williams Riveros and Marco Saravia (replaced the suspended Matís Di Benedetto) showed order and discipline to dismantle the LDU offensive, which weeks Back he fought against Fluminense in the finals of the Recopa Sudamericana.

The first sign of the good and the bad they showed was in Saravia’s yellow card before 15 minutes for a foul against Michael Estrada. From then on, those in charge of stopping the 1.87 tall, 90 kilo forward were Corzo and Riveros in relays. Every time he escaped, they managed to ensure that his attacks did not represent any real danger to the merengue goal.

The second and definitive example of the organization in defense was in the control that was had over the center forward Alex Arce, the team’s current scorer in the Ecuadorian league with 7 goals. The Guaraní went unnoticed in the Monumental.

The goal, of course, fell like a bucket of cold water, but it represented an isolated event in the first half. Between Quiñónez’s powerful shot and the deflection off a cream player, Britos could not prevent the goal. With the score in their favor, the figures of Corzo, Riveros and Saravia stood out in the clearances and cuts.

The change that defined luck

With Canchita Gonzáles on the field the ‘U’ did not play badly. His hasty injury, however, forced Jairo Concha, still not fully recovered from his back pain, to jump in to play his best game with Universitario this year.

Jairo gave possession and dynamics to his interior position on the left. He teamed up well with Portocarrero in the area. He shielded Ureña and looked for Edison Flores more easily. The play for the second goal was born from Concha’s feet.

For his part, Rodrigo Ureña had a better performance when the ‘U’ played against adversity and put the undefeated team at risk of losing after 8 months. The Chilean was in charge of stopping the LDU organization in the middle. He, along with Pérez Guedes, fought battles in each divided ball and gave the ‘U’ a clean exit on the right. So much so that the tie was made on the right in conjunction with Polo and Rivera.

The attack that responded to the height

Was it a risk to play without a reference center forward? No. The ‘U’ this year does not play to throw centers into the area, although that is how they achieved the momentary 1-1 yesterday, that is why Bustos left Dorregaray and Olivares on the bench to send Tunche and Orejas on the offensive line.

The answer was clear. Rivera’s great moment was evident in every ball he touched. He created fouls, moved throughout the attack front and scored his first double in a Universitario shirt.

Meanwhile, Flores’ work was more sacrificed. He had to cover the exits of the LDU defense. With the 2-1 in favor, Orejas was seen almost on par with the line of the midfielders looking to take over the entire midfield.

Murrugarra, Cabanillas, Dorregaray and Olivares then entered to give the team oxygen and they delivered. A victory the size of the Monumental, a historic comeback that will go down in the records as the first victory by a Peruvian team against the LDU of Quito.

If we review the statistics, the ‘U’ numbers are incontestable. In the last 27 home games they achieved 23 victories, 3 draws and 1 defeat (Corinthians 2-1 for the Copa Sudamericana). In terms of goals, he scored 50 times and only conceded 9 goals. Brutal.

The cherry that crowned the cake comes with another important fact: last night the ‘U’ became the Peruvian club with the most wins in the Copa Libertadores with 73 victories in 229 games. The road is still long, but the first step of joy was like a leap towards the moon of happiness.