Universitario and César Vallejo: the negative streaks to overcome on the difficult road to reach the Libertadores group stage

23 years have passed since the final played by Sporting Crystal against Cruzeiro. Forty-nine of academic vs Independent. Two almost joys in six decades of history of the Liberators cup. In the last two decades there have been small oases in that desert that is Peru in the tournament. alliance played eighth in 1998 and 2010, the ‘U’ equaling the campaign in 1999, the same as Cienciano in 2022 and Cristal in 2004. Real Garcilaso (today Cusco FC) went a little further and reached the quarterfinals in 2013. There we stop counting. The championship, which has become more of a nightmare than a prize for Peruvian teams, is about to start its sixty-third edition and here we will tell you in detail what the participation of the League 1 classifications will be. This Monday, from ten in the morning, will be the draw for the preliminary phases.

The Cesar Vallejo University (Peru 4) will start from Phase 1, which will have three crosses between teams from Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and, obviously, ours. The first leg will be played between February 8 and 10 and the return between February 15 and 17 of the same month. Conmebol, in its regulations, indicates that according to the ranking they manage, in the bowling alley one will be the teams with the best qualification and these three teams will close the keys locally.

Phase 2 “It will be played by the three teams from the previous phase -the winners-, plus 13 classified teams established as follows: Brazil (2), Colombia (2), Chile (2) and 1 team from the remaining 7 associations)”, as stipulated by Conmebol. Sports University (Peru 3) is installed in this round.

The duels are scheduled to be played between February 22 and 24 (first leg) and March 1 and 3 (second leg). In fact, the UCV key will not be raffled against creams, that is why Olimpia, Bolívar and Barcelona are also left out as “possible opponents”.

academic, which began its preseason on December 7, for now it has only been reinforced with Alfonso Barco, Joao Villamarín and Uruguayan Ángel Cayetano. Coach Gregorio Pérez prefers to give continuity to this year’s squad in search of access to the group stage. The meringues have 33 participations in the Cup, but in the last ones it did not go well. In 2017 and 2020 they lost in phase 2 to Capiatá and Cerro Porteño, respectively. In 2018 they fell in the first round against Oriente Petrolero. This season they played in the group stage but finished last.

The path of the champion and runner-up

Alliance Lima (champion and Peru 1) and Sporting Crystal (Peru 2) defined the new Peruvian soccer monarch and their respective qualifying positions for next year’s Copa Libertadores. Intimates and rimenses will wait until next March 23, the day on which the draw for the group stage will be held, to meet their rivals. For now it is known that, by the Conmebol ranking, they will be in pot 3 or 4, in addition to starting the competition playing at home and closing the visit.

The blue and white for now have only presented Christian Ramos as your first booster. It is expected that in the coming days more will be announced, in addition to solving the problem of the quota of foreigners. This Monday, the 20th begins the preseason but not with the full squad. Little by little they will be added.

In La Victoria the objective, beyond going for the two-time championship, is to cut the streak of 23 games without winning in the Cup. A brand that is a heavy backpack for all the coaches every time they have to play the tournament. In the last three participations (2018, 2019 and 2020) they made one point per campaign.

In Cristal the situation is similar. The rimenses have so far introduced Leandro Sosa (ex Ayacucho FC) and the 18-year-old Ecuadorian Juan Sánchez Rosales. Added to this is the interest in bringing Emanuel Herrera, the scorer who would return after passing through Argentinos Juniors of his country and will replace Marcos Riquelme, who said goodbye to the club.