The run up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa has been a twisted affair here in South America. Peru has not been to the World Cup since 1982 when, in Spain, Italy beat West Germany 3-1 in the final.

This year Peru finished last in the South American qualifier pool for the World Cup. However, Peru fought hard in their last three games wining the first two against Uruguay and Bolivia respectively, and fighting to a 2-1 loss against Argentina, in Buenos Aries, almost upsetting one of the best teams in the world. A 1-1 tie would dropped Argentina enough in the standings to possibly miss the World Cup in 2010. Brazil finished first in the pool with Chile, Paraguay and Argentina making the top four guaranteed spots while Uruguay battled with Costa Rica in a inter-continental play-off to determine a final spot in the 2010 World Cup
Check out the Photos of the Peru vs Uruguay game in Lima.

Peruvian Primera División

The 2009/2010 season ran from February to December and was played in three stages. The first stage is the regular season and each teams plays 30 home-and-away games. In the second stage the teams are divided into two groups. The teams that place an odd number in the regular season will play in Group A. The remaining teams will play in Group B. The teams will play 14 more home-and-away games. The winner of each group will advance and play a final two game play-off to determine the national champion.
In the end, Alianza Lima and Universitario de Deportes were on top of their leagues and played in the play-off. There was always a lot of talk about a Alianza-Universitario rivalry. It turns out that “in 1950 the last amateur season was won by Deportivo Municipal. By the end of the amateur era, the strongest teams were Alianza Lima and Universitario de Deportes(known as the U), which had formed the biggest rivalry in Peru.” That was 60 years ago. Not much has changed.

In the first game of the two-legged knockout tie Universitario beat Alianza 1-0. In the second game, played in Cusco(elevation 3326 meters), Universitario needed only to tie Alianza to win the Campeonato Nacional 2009, but they did one better and scored. Universitario won 1-0 over Alianza who went down a man at some point and was trying to rally the entire game after and early strike by Nolberto Solano of Universitario in the 10th minute of the game.

Strangely, Juan Aurich from Chiclayo had more points over all in the Peruvian Primera División, but did not go on to the final because they did not win their league. The good news for Juan Aurich is that they are competing in the Copa Libertadores this year, and they have been winning.

Copa Libertadores

Photo from www.peru.com.

Peru will send three teams this year to the Copa Libertadores. Alianza Lima and Universitario de Deportes get automatic berths to the second round because they each won their specific league and Juan Aurich gets a first round berth for having the most overall points for the season.

The first round has just finished up and Juan Aurich was able to advance to the second round by defeating Estudiantes Tecos of Mexico in a two game play-off. The first game was in Chiclayo Peru and they beat Tecos 2-0. The second game was in Guadalajara Mexico and Juan Aurich pulled an away team upset and won 2-1 thus sealing their fate and moving them to the second round. CLICK HERE to read about the Copa Libertadoras qualification process.

There are Eight groups of four teams that will make up stage two, or the Group Stage, in the Copa Libertadores. The groups play a league system, in which each team plays home and away games against each other team in their group. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage, that consists of two-legged knockout ties. From that point, the competition proceeds with two-legged knockout ties to quarterfinals, semifinals, and finally the finals.

Alianza and Juan Aurich are in the same group and will play each other twice, March 10, 2010 in Alejandro Villanueva Stadium home of Alianza and March 16, 2010 most likely in Chiclayo. Stay tuned to the blog for updates on these two matches and more.

Grupo 1
• Cerro Porteño (Paraguay)
• Independiente Medellín (Colombia)
• Corinthians (Brasil)
• Racing Montevideo (Uruguay)

Grupo 2
• Nacional (Paraguay)
• Once Caldas (Colombia)
• Sao Paulo FC (Brasil)
• Monterrey (México)

Grupo 3
• Bolívar (Bolivia)
• Alianza Lima (Perú)
• Estudiantes de La Plata (Argentina)
• Juan Aurich (Perú)

Grupo 4
• Lanús (Argentina)
• Blooming (Bolivia)
• Universitario (Perú)
• Libertad (Paraguay)

Grupo 5
• Cerro (Uruguay)
• Deportivo Quito (Ecuador)
• Internacional (Brasil)
• Ganador G5

Grupo 6
• Banfield (Argentina)
• Morelia (México)
• Nacional (Uruguay)
• Deportivo Cuenca (Ecuador)

Grupo 7
• Vélez Sarsfield (Argentina)
• Colo Colo (Chile)
• Deportivo Italia (Venezuela)
• Cruzeiro (Brasil)

Grupo 8
• Universidad de Chile
• Caracas FC (Venezuela)
• Flamengo (Brasil)
• Ganador G3

Related Posts

1. Copa Libertadores and Peruvian futból Update, Feb. 21st | by Robert Kittilson
2. Copa Libertadores Update: March 28th | by Robert Kittilson
3. Copa Libertadores 2010 Update: March 13th | by Robert Kittilson
4. Copa Libertadores Update March 1st 2010 | by Robert Kittilson
5. Copa Libertadores 2010 games in Lima | by Jessie Kwak

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