Sporting Cristal reached the semifinals of the Half of the World Cup Sub 18 after beating Valley Independent in the penalty shootout 5-4. The match, held at the Banco Guayaquil stadium, ended 2-2 in regulation time and was decided from the twelve steps, where the players ‘rimenses’ They got all their executions right.
Under the technical direction of Renzo Revoredothe ‘brewers‘They managed to even the score. Despite the pressure of facing the organizing team, the young footballers knew how to maintain calm and precision in the decisive penalty shootout.
The match represented a significant challenge both due to the quality of the rival and the setting. The penalties, which became the final judge, were executed perfectly by the Peruvian team. This triumph leads to Sporting Cristal to a crucial stage of the tournament, in which they will seek to continue advancing.
The competition of the Under 18 Half World Cup, organized annually by Independiente del Valle, brings together youth teams from various countries, facing them in highly competitive matches that allow us to measure the level of future soccer promises. Cristal’s outstanding performance highlights her potential and the effectiveness of her training under Revoredo. The victory not only gives them a pass to the semifinals, but also raises expectations about their future participation in the championship.
The ‘rimenses‘They reached the quarterfinals after overcoming a difficult Group B made up of Fluminense, Catholic University and Atlético Huila. They added 5 points and finished in 2nd place, after defeating the Brazilians 3-2 and drawing 1-1 with the Chileans and Colombians. For their part, the Ecuadorians were first in Group A after beating Albion of Uruguay 4-0, Once Caldas 4-2 and losing 1-0 to Young African Promises of Ghana.
Picture ‘brewer‘He went out onto the field with César Bautista in goal; a line of four made up of Joao Cuenca, Luis Baylon, Favio Quiroz and César Orihuela; Jhostin Ortíz, Thiago Salinas and Alessandro Farranaga in the middle and in attack Maxloren Castro with Gabriel Soto as wingers, leaving about nine Mateo Rodríguez.
For his part, the ‘giant slayer‘ lined up with Cristian Loor, Jalisthon Angulo, Exhon Arroyo, Edu Gómez, Adonis Rodríguez, Ariel Angulo, Anthony Montezuma, Keny Arroyo, Riquelme Angulo, Santi Sánchez, Justin Lermathe latter, considered the new jewel of Ecuadorian football and already sold to Borussia Dortmund.
The great figure of the match was the forward ‘sky blue‘ Mateo Rodríguezson of the remembered Alberto Rodriguez, who scored a double, consolidating himself as the team’s top scorer in the competition with 4 goals, as he also scored twice in the victory over Fluminense. Another one that shone was Maxloren Castrowho showed why he has minutes in the first team at his young age of 16, providing two assists and causing danger with his skill.
The offspring of ‘Dumb‘ He started his show just after 6 minutes, when he received Maxloren, intercepted a rival exit pass and touched the ball near the crescent. The attacker made an oriented control, positioned himself for his left foot and took a powerful low shot to the right post. The ‘blackblue‘They reacted and tied with both from Yandri Vásquez, but Cristal took the lead again at 32′, after a great collective play, in which they came out playing from below and ended with a great clearance from Castro, who left Rodríguez one-on-one, who did not forgive.
The last minutes were like a movie, at 78′ the goalkeeper Caesar Bautista He was sent off for a false start and striker Matías Martínez had to go to goal, since they had no more substitutions. Valley Independent He took advantage of the numerical superiority and in the last game of the match, Caicedo tied it and took the match to penalties.
Despite the psychological blow of the final tie, the players of Sporting Cristal They had the nerve to execute their shots. None of the shooters: Castro, Moretti, Ramos and Baylon failed, while in IDV, Quiñónez sent the ball out, declaring the 4-3 in favor of those from La Florida.
Alianza Lima and Universitario de Deportes were the other two Peruvian clubs that participated in the Under 18 Half World Cup. However, both were eliminated in the first round.
The ‘creams’ added 3 points and were 3rd in Group C after losing 3-1 to Envigado and 2-0 to La Tri, and defeating Peñarol 1-0. For their part, the ‘blue and white‘They were last in Group D with only 1 point, as a result of their losses against IDV Juniors (1-0) and Atlético Nacional (2-1) and their draw with Bragantino (0-0).
