Cusco beat College Juan Pablo II 2-0 in the fifth stage of the Clausura tournament at Estadio Inca Garcilaso de la Vega on Thursday evening. The hosts opened the scoring through F. Callejo in the sixth minute before M. Almiron's own goal doubled the advantage just before the half-hour mark. By then the visitors had already been forced into a change, with A. Fuentes coming off for the home side in the eleventh minute.
Chase Villanueva picked up a yellow card for the guests in the twenty-eighth minute, followed shortly by Jean Carlos Montaño's booking for Cusco. The second half saw a flurry of substitutions as both managers tried to find something, though the scoreline remained unchanged. Cusco brought on C. Villanueva at the restart, while J. Manzaneda and C. Montano were paired together for the visitors at fifty-seven minutes.
E. Ramirez appeared twice for College Juan Pablo II, entering at sixty-two and sixty-three minutes before being replaced by J. Posito in the same window. C. Diez and I. Colman came on for Cusco at seventy-three, with J. Toledo adding fresh legs at eighty minutes. N. Ramirez rounded off the changes for the visitors in the eighty-seventh minute, while Matias Almiron and M. Almiron both collected yellows before Christian Flores completed the disciplinary tally in stoppage time.
Cusco controlled the tempo with sixty per cent possession, though their chances went begging. They registered ten shots inside the penalty area but only managed two on target, while the visitors matched that accuracy with three attempts inside the box. The hosts created three big chances compared to none for College Juan Pablo II, yet failed to convert more than the two goals they took. And here's the thing about matches like this — you can dominate possession and still leave with only two points.
The result keeps Cusco in fifth place with 42 points from 25 games, while College Juan Pablo II remain fourteenth on 28. The home side have shown they can grind out results away from their recent inconsistency, having lost to Comesiante Unidos 3-1 last weekend. College Juan Pablo II's run of draws and defeats continues, though they did beat Cienciano 2-0 back in July. The gap between them in the table suggests Cusco will be pushing for a higher finish if they maintain this level.