Sporting Cristal vs U (2-2) Match Recap: Comeback with Garra

Sporting Cristal vs U (2-2) Match Recap: Comeback with Garra

by Jon-Paul Devetori

This match result showed to never give up in your club no matter how hopeless you feel, never give up on them. After a disappointing loss to Carlos Manucci last weekend, a loss to Sporting Cristal would put fuel to the fire in the “U”. Entering the match with our best starting XI, I expected a strong performance and a tight result. The end of the 1st half proved otherwise. In the 38th minute, Percy Liza was fouled in the penalty area and former Crema star Alejandro Hohberg scored the penalty to make it 1-0 Cristal. A few minutes later, Christofer Gonzales snuck a second goal for Cristal to make it 2-0, a goal that could’ve been avoided.

The second half had some key changed to both sides. Comizzo subbed in Alexander Succar for Gerson Barreto while Cristal manager Roberto Mosquera, subbed out important starters such as Jhlimar Lora (who was having a great match), Hohberg, and Horacio Calcaterra. The changes for Cristal showed how comfortable they were in winning this match, the moves later backfired. After a long half of not making any threats, the “U” finally scored in the 88th minute with a rocket by Alex Valera. In stoppage time, substitute Succar scored the game tying goal.

Cristal was confident that they were the beginning of the end for the “U”, they thought they were going to “end” Universitario in owning bragging rights of being the number one club of Peru. With Garra, the Crema fought back and proved they are still the number one club in Peru. It wasn’t a win but the result did shut Cristal up after they made so much noise in the past few years. The end result also showed that the club still show their Garra Crema attitude but for future matches, that attitude needs to be displayed for the full 90 minutes.