Cusco FC struck first against Sporting Cristal on Saturday 24 October, with Facundo Callejo finishing for a 1-0 lead in the Fecha 13 match of the Torneo Clausura at the Estadio Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. The opening goal gave the home side a much-needed lift in a game that arrived with both the standings and the mood around both teams already under pressure.
Kickoff came at 3:15 p.m., and the matchup drew attention because Sporting Cristal came in on seven consecutive victories and sitting in first place, while Cusco FC needed points to improve its Acumulado position and keep its push for an international tournament place alive. That made the first half more than a routine league visit: one team was protecting momentum at the top, the other was trying to stop a slide after two straight defeats.
L1 MAX carried the live broadcast, with access through DIRECTV, Movistar TV, Claro TV, WIN TV and Best Cable, as well as on L1 MAX, DGO, the Movistar TV App, Claro Video and Fanatiz. The confirmed lineups underlined the stakes too: Cusco FC sent out Díaz, Fuentes, Gamarra, Lagos, Zevallos, Montaño, Soto, Colman, Manzaneda, Colitto and Callejo, while Sporting Cristal started with Enríquez, Sosa, Araujo, Lutiger, Cristiano, Álvarez, Yotún, S. González, Iberico, Maxloren and Hoyos.
Sporting Cristal did have a warning sign before the goal, when Pedro Díaz turned away a shot from Yotún. But Callejo’s finish was the moment that changed the match state, and it fit the pressure Cusco FC brought into the day: after two losses in a row, this was the kind of result they needed to protect if they wanted the Acumulado to keep working in their favor. The remaining question was whether that early edge would hold against a side that had been winning almost everything in front of it.
What happened after Cusco FC moved in front was left unresolved in the early action, but the opening goal already altered the shape of the Clausura race. Sporting Cristal could no longer treat the visit as another step in a seven-match surge, and Cusco FC had at least put itself in position to make the result count where it mattered most.
