From "World Soccer" (Vol. 35 No. 4) by Pete Hudson.
Sporting Cristal wrapped up the peruvian championship race with four games left to play. The Lima side looked the only likely winners for months and won 11 of their matches by a margin of four goals or more, including a remarkable 11-1 victory against Defensor Lima in July.
Cristal are one of the few financially solvent clubs in the league.They were known as Sporting Tabaco until 1956, when Backus & Johnston, the country's main brewery, bought it and named it after its leading brand of lager. This year alone, the company has pumped in around $1.5 million in sponsorship.
The backing has allowed Cristal to buy and hold onto influential foreign players, like the Brazilian Julio Cesar de Andrade, Julinho, scorer of 10 goals this season, and captain Pedro Garay, signed from Cerro Porteņo of Paraguay. It has also allowed the club to develop a strong youth policy, which has cultivated players like Roberto Palacios, scorer of 13 goals, and Flavio Maestri, the League's leading scorer with 21 goals.
Cristal now carry Peruvian fortunes in international competition.The club reached the semi-finals of the Libertadores Cup two years ago one of the best performances ever by a peruvian club.
In November they played their first matches in the Conmebol Cup. After a shaky start,winning only 2-1 in Lima,Cristal did well in Quito to beat Nacional of Ecuador 1-0, despite having to play the last 20 minutes of the match with 10 men. In the next round they faced Sao Paulo, a much tougher test altogether for Cristal. They went down 3-1 in the first leg in Brazil.