by J.P. Devetori
Universitario are in Callao to face against Cantolao for the first match of the 2022 year. The “U” are coming into this match with a couple headlines. After a couple rough preseason friendlies, interim manager Edgardo Adinolfi was demoted and youth manager Manuel Barreto is serving as interim manager for today while newly hired and experienced manager, Álvaro Gutierrez, will be presented tomorrow and will be the next manager for Universitario de Deportes. Gutierrez will be observing today’s match from the stands.
Universitario is heading into this match with returns from their key stars such as Aldo Corzo, Alex Valera, Alberto ‘Chiquitin’ Quintero and Jose Carvallo. Their absences really made a negative effect to the club during the preseason friendlies but now since the January/February qualifiers have finished, the key stars are back to help the team win. The key absence however today is Hernan Novick who is out due to injury as well as Jose Murrugarra and Ivan Santillan.
One important fact to take note in today’s match vs Cantolao is that we haven’t beaten them in 2 years. This is not a very strong Cantolao team, who barely survived relegation last year but they are still not to be overlooked. The “U” must continue their high chemistry offense from the end of last season. Avoid critical mistakes and build many scoring opportunities help boost confidence for the entire match.
The starting XI for the “U” today are: Carvallo (C); Corzo, Alonso, Quina, Cabanillas; Cayetano, Quispe, Barreto; Villamarin, Urruti; Valera.
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