Winning in La Victoria

I’ve always thought that ‘Alto de Gloria’ must be the best name of a neighbourhood ever to build your home stadium in, like Coritiba did. And actually I still do. But here in Lima there a district that is a good runner up. Separated from Lima centre by an express way, lies a poor and filthy neighbourhood with a bad reputation for crime. Its name is a constant reminder to the players of what they are paid to do. In the middle of it every fortnight thousands of fans enter a big hole in the ground to see Alianza play their home matches, feeling the power hidden in the district’s name: La Victoria. Nothing more, nothing less.

So how do we now Alianza? It’s one of the most successful Peruvian teams, albeit not the most successful, but has never won anything on an international level nor has anything to be proud of that was conquested outside of Peru. Nonetheless most Dutch people know it as the club Farfán came from before trading the blue-white stripes for the red-white stripes of PSV. In Peru, however, few teams reach the levels of popularity of Alianza.

With nothing to lose but my life and S./40,- I decided to go to last weekend’s match with Richard, a true Alianza fan that gets angry when they draw and cries when they lose. Things haven’t been particularily good for Alianza this year, but since I came the direct competition at least lost more points than did Alianza. Therefore the 4th place in the standard league already improved to a second place in the overall ranking by last Sunday. The confrontation for that day? Aurich, a small team surprising friend and fiend with the best football of the country. In this phase of the competition the standard league is divided in two groups of par and unpar ranked teams and only the winners of these groups qualify for the final that decides the championship. The royal lead Aurich had on Alianza in the first phase succumbed in the last couple of weeks, so with only one point between them the Limeños smelled blood.

In the stadium for 25.000 that is usually only a third full, this time over 20.000 people came to see one of the most important matches of the season. Alianza opened strong, making clear what its objectives were. Knowing Alianza has a chronic problem of generating goals this year, the red team simply leaned back and put in place a thorough defence. From the first minute, the Aurich goalkeeper put on his slow mode. After a couple of minutes it became clear though, that they would not be able to sustain such a tactic. A Alianza corner got deflected a couple of times, and then ended up in the goal: 1x0. The fans went nuts. Blue and white dominated the match and when after little more than half an hour Aurich’ right back got a red card, the stadium was overwhelmed with joy.

On the field, however, this did not translate into more pressure from Alianza to humiliate their opponent. Although at least half a dozen of incredible chances were missed, the level dropped drastically. In the second half it was Aurich that, once again, demonstrated the best football. Alianza just thought they were already there. No matter how much the provincials from Chiclayo pressed though, they did not equalize. Even after another red card equaled the teams, the home team could keep their lead. And so, for possibly the first time this season, Alianza Lima is in first position in the overall ranking. Too bad for them there are still 12 rounds to go.