intimos 2 - 0 Sporting (392111768)

The crowd of 21606 turning up at intimos Arena today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Juan Pablo Gave was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Peter Persson and Enrique Solares. Everyone was excited about the upcoming Lima derby and the crowd was divided evenly. intimos started off with a 5-3-2 lineup. Lineup: Ricardi - Ferreyra, Vilchez, Negro, Finizza, Curu - Kamo, Russo, Frisancho - Curiñaupa, Šmída.

Sporting tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players took the field: Sperlinga - Ciancarini, Drieu, Quicaño - Anaya, Dogana, Kustner, Doursther, Quesada - Esles, Huaita.

Using their counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for intimos. Sporting seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. The muddy pitch made the game a gritty affair, which seemed to suit R. Quesada just fine. Clever play that showed his experience gave C. Esles a good chance to score, but the shot hit the crossbar. It was obvious that team Sporting had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. T. Curu, who often relies on his speed, had a rotten day on the drenched grass. The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when M. Dogana was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 42 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead! 0 - 0 was the score after the first half. Sporting enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 73 percent of possession.

Sporting players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. Down the middle came C. Esles, making a fantastic play that nearly had Sporting take the lead after 56 minutes, but H. Ricardi preserved the tie. After 57 minutes, a well-worked counterattack by intimos on the right presented an easy opportunity in front of the goal that was duly converted by N. Curiñaupa to make it 1 - 0. Sporting's J. Quicaño showed off his trademark ability to do the unexpected with a tricky pass after 59 minutes. Unfortunately, C. Huaita was startled by the play and wasn't able to control the finish. Sporting had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle attacks. With 70 minutes played, J. Doursther came in from the right and could have evened the score, but the defenders successfully repelled the attack by Sporting. intimos's H. Kamo left the field after 75 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was G. Castro. 83 minutes into the game, Z. Šmída finished off a intimos left wing counterattack, making the score 2 - 0. By now, the players in intimos felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. Sporting's J. Doursther got himself booked for a foul. Sporting had most of the ball, with 70 percent of possession.

Most important intimos player was Z. Šmída. T. Curu turned in a dismal performance, however. Sporting's top performer was clearly G. Drieu. However, J. Quicaño made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 0.