SEASON 1: THE POWER OF PERSONALITY!
Comizzo Gives Muni Back its Respect While Farfán Resurrects his Career!
14 wins,
7 draws,
13 losses
5th in
Peruvian Liga 1!
The Supremacy of Tactics. X's and O's. Efficiency.
It is indisputable that Football has experienced a major transformation in the past 10 years. Most of the winningest sides in the world trot out ever-increasingly mechanized armies of players with what seem to be chips in their brains, following strict orders, discouraging flair, individuality and creativity, all at the service of maximum efficiency. Players are now trained to be "complete", like cyborgs following tactics.. Yes. Our dear game (at least at the top level) has become increasingly technified at the expense of much more human emotions, the randomness of the game, the moments of personal brilliance, a human error which, at the toss of a dime, can turn into something sublime and otherworldly in its imperfection.
Chaos breaking into order, the poetry of motion, the stubbornness of a Defensive Midfielder, the brushtrokes of a Trequartista, the true beauty of going to the Stadium;
the Art of Football.
Yet, while many modern pundits, fans, and observers might prefer a type of "Robocop" football, the studying of footballing metrics "passing into this space and pressing at this angle will result in a 58.7% greater chance of a win, etc.. etc..", some of us,
the romantic few, still cling onto
human emotion, imperfection, doubt and inspiration, as the main drivers of this beautiful experience. This is why I love the so-called "lesser known leagues". There is room to breathe, a scotch-move followed by a Gambeta can still decide a Cup final, there is space to make a mistake, bury your head in your hands for a minute, get over it, and look to recuperate (that same space can create brushtrokes of a Masterpiece). In short:
Football retains its humanity: the bitterness of disappointment, the power of hope: there is always another day, another season, and those who cry today can rejoice tomorrow. Nothing is decided.
One of the most exciting-and underlooked- stories in these leagues is ocurring in the
Pacific Coastlines of Peru, in the capital of Lima. Our infamous contrarian, the one and only
Ángel Comizzo, has just finished his first season with
Deportivo Municipal, and has brought them back to a place of respectability, in fact, back to their rightful place in
Peruvian football. But the road was long, filled with ups and downs, a true roller-coaster of human emotion as he looked to impose his will on the league, give the team a strong identity, and rally the fans of a sleeping giant who has been in a slumber for a long time, for way too long. This was no easy task, going up against not only the
3 Peruvian Giants (
Alianza Lima,
Universitario, and
Sporting Cristal), but against a
Peruvian League which is becoming more and more competitive not only by the year, but also seemingly by the minute!
In Parts 1 and 2 of our story, we covered the circumstances of
Comizzo's arrival in Peru and the recruitment (or should we say, welcoming) of
Jefferson Farfán to
Deportivo Municipal. We also briefly described the team's history and identity. What was expected of our dear
Muni in our first season was perhaps best described as an unknown quantity. Nobody knew what to expect. Were expectations high or low for our team? How would
Comizzo re-adapt coming back to
South America after spending 3 years in
Japan? And perhaps the question that was most pressing on everyone's minds: How much does a
25 year old Farfán, with reconstructed knees, have left in the tank? These questions would all be answered very soon! Even the
Peruvian football analysts did not know what to make of this season's
Muni, all that was guaranteed is that no matter what happened, interest was absolutely peaking in the league!
Our story began (
Fixture 1 of 34) against Alianza Atlético de Sullana, as we hosted them in our stadium,
Ivan Elias Moreno. The crowd was fired up as the "
new look Muni" took the field, yet a sense of uncertainty filled the stadium, how would our revamped roster look? An interesting tidbit is that long-time Muni striker
Roberto "El Búfalo Ovelar" (age 28) remained the captain of the team, even with the addition of
Farfán (age 26), as
Comizzo trusted him with leading the team in these early stages.. As
El Búfalo led
Muni out, thousands of red and white confetti flew from the stands, the expectation was palpable, and as the match was underway, it was clear that this indeed, was a new-look Muni , we raced out to a 3-0 lead by halftime with goals by
Farfán, Ovelar, and one of our wonderkids, Right Midfielder
Mauricio Matzuda! We were able to hold on to this lead and as the final whistle blew, we had a resounding win, three goals to start the season with a bang!
had started in spectacular fashion, but the next 4 matches would be a test, and a show of strength by the
Peruvian League..
Fixture 2 featured us visiting Alianza Universidad, in the middle of the country in the city of Huánuco, also known as "The city of eternal sunshine". We weren't able to hold on in this match, as we were up 0-2 but they were able to score 2 goals in the last 15 minutes to seal the draw! A wasted chance for sure (one that would unfortunately would re-ocurr later on in the season), and one that set us on a negative streak. Next up, we went back to our grounds to host Mannucci, a medium team which had revamped their roster as well.. and even though they didn't play brilliantly, they did make their chances count, as they were clinical in front of goal, beating us 1-3 in our stadium!
After starting the season brilliantly in our opening fixture, games #2 and #3 were definitely tests.. Surrendering a lead in the Huánuco, and
Comizzo being outplayed in our stadium! Things would get a bit better in fixture 4, as we went up to the highlands of Peru to face the always tough Cienciano de Cusco, over
3700 meters above sea level! Even though
Peruvian players are usually used to the altitude, this match was definitely a challenge, as Cienciano not only knows how to play in altitude, but were also fielding a team that knew how to take advantage of these peculiar surroundings. Things were looking dire for us, as we were down 2-1 with only minutes left, yet in extra time, it was
Jefferson Farfán who saved the day with the game-defining play to equalize as the clock wound down!! This was a streak-breaking play for sure, and
a huge mood lifter for our team.
Four games in, a win, two draws, and a loss and we were sitting in midtable,
yet fixture #5 would be yet another drawback for us. No breaks this time, as we would go even
higher in the Andes Mountains this time, at
3832 meters above sea level, to face Deportivo Binacional, and in this match, it really seemed like we ran out of oxygen as we couldn't get anything going, surrendering a pallid 1-0 result to the Peruvian highlanders, whose style and of course lungs were much more adapted to these rugged conditions (even more difficult to play here than in Cienciano, even less air!).. Needless to say, after these two matches in the
highest altitudes of South America,
Comizzo was not in the best of moods during the press conference as he spouted out in frustration:
Comizzo: "You gotta be kidding me.
They should outlaw playing in anything over 3500 meters. Ok, so my players train at sea level, in the coasts of Lima, and now we are expected to go 3700, 3900 meters above sea level and perform? 2500 meters is acceptable.
This is just ridiculous and it isn't football, it's like playing with a balloon. I give no credit to Binacional and Cienciano for these wins, it was not tactical acumen that beat us, just cheap thin air. How the
Peruvian Football Federation allows is completely beyond me."
Comizzo was not suspended for the following match,
but he was fined 10,000 soles for his comments against the PFF.
Fixture 6 would thankfully, see us back home in the
Peruvian coast, in much milder conditions against Universidad de San Martín, where we were able to hold on to a slender 1-0 victory against "La Muela" (The Tooth, known for their iconic mascot!), a much needed win after our debacle in
the altitude of Cienciano. Yet another test would come during the homestand, as in fixture 7, we would be facing none other than
League Leaders and defending Champions Sporting Cristal, who were leading the world in points and definitely looked a class above everyone else in the league! In an uncommonly rainy Lima night, we fought bravely in the first half but two goals by
Cristal in the second half, by Ecuadorian Washington Corozo and in an ironic twist of fate,
Marcos Riquelme (who, coincidentally, was released by
Comizzo after a poor first season in Gunma United and came back to Peru). Yet Comizzo was unrepentant, saying in the presser that "Fair play to
Marcos, but the decision to release him was absolutely correct, as he achieved very little transcendence in Japan and did not fit our plans at Gunma.
He underperformed." Words that, even if they were technically true, added
more fuel to the fire and painted Comizzo in the Peruvian press as even more of a contrarian.
Losing to
Cristal was perhaps not a surprise, but we weren't able to turn the tide in fixture 8, as we lost a heartbreaking, topsy-turvy match against Sport Huancayo in
Fixture 8, a 3-2 result at their stadium (surrendering a goal in minute 87!). Things weren't looking good at the moment, in fact,
Muni-World was in danger of being shrouded by black clouds! Were
Comizzo's combative personality creating a controversy in Muni? After fixture 8, we were 2-2-4, and sitting in
position 14 of 18! (The bottom two teams are relegated in
Peru). The horizon did not show clear skies, additionally, as in our next 2 fixtures we would face two of the toughest teams in the country, visiting the red and black sea of Melgar of Arequipa, in the
South of Peru, a proud and fighting team which have been challenging the supremacy of the
Big-3 in the past few years, (along with quite respectable showings in
Copa Libertadores and
Sudamericana), and League Giants and perennial title contenders Alianza Lima!
Yet, amazingly, at our lowest point of the season, we found the strength to carry on, undoubtedly spurred on by pride, which was hurt by a less than stellar start. as we were able to salvage a 0-0 draw against the tough Melgar crowd,
in one of the most passionate, most hostile crowds in Peru, and even more surprisingly,
beating Alianza Lima (Peru's most popular team), 2-1 in our stadium, a complete reversal of fortunes. Two results that seemed to right the ship for the time being, especially the match against
Alianza, which was undoubtedly our biggest win of the season, showed that anything could and would definitely happen in the
Peruvian League. It is interesting to note as well, that
Alianza Lima had also been in the running to sign
Farfán before the season, before he decided to sign with
Muni, and so this victory against the "
Aliancistas" was double sweet for that reason. A goal by our Captain,
el Bùfalo Ovelar, and a second goal by
Rengifo (after being set up by Farfán) gave us a huge victory against one of the three giants.
Farfán: "
This was one of the biggest matches of my career, at least emotionally speaking. It was first and foremost a great win for the team, but it also had a large personal significance for me.
Having grown up an Alianza Lima fan, I would've never imagined that I would be playing against them. But
Deportivo Municipal was my first team.. I came here when I was 10 years old and
Muni embraced me and gave me my first football lessons, and so it really seems like I've come full circle."
This morale-boosting win sent us on a positive stretch, as
we won two out of our next three matches! (2-0 vs Cantolao, "The Dolphin-Men", then a tough well earned 1-1 draw against Ayacucho, and back on our grounds, a 1-0 win against Cusco FC!) An interesting tidbit about these opponents is that all 3 were in a similar situation to us in terms of table position, so
getting 7 out of 9 points was a tremendous turnaround and gave us a boost in the standings. After 13 matches, we had recovered and were
5-4-4, and back in the top half of the table. A solid recovery, which in turn set the table for a meeting against the Third Peruvian Giant,
Universitario de Deportes in our stadium! We had lost to
Cristal in the first match, then had beaten
Alianza in the second, could we record a positive balance against the third giant?
Universitario would make it difficult for us.. Even though we outplayed them for much of the match in front of our fans, it was them who would escape with the victory in a hard-fought intense battle at our stadium, in a match that had tons of emotion riding on it. An added spice to this encounter was definitely the fact that
Universitario had been the team which
had fired Comizzo before his departure for Japan (and his farewell was not amicable at all after losing the final vs
Sporting Cristal and having mediocre results in his second season). Feelings were testy as there was a lot of saltiness in the air, and of course our
Argentinean madman had words to say in the post-match press conference:
Comizzo: "Yeah, I'm not happy at all with the way things ended with
Universitario. The owners treated me like I was nothing in my last year there, like I'd never given them anything.
I gave them a title back in 2013, and years later took them to the final against the strongest team in
Peru,
Sporting Cristal. And they rewarded me by firing me.
Yeah, classy move.
But Karma comes back to bite you. Even with today's result, look at our league standings, and look at theirs.
We are 8th, they are 11th. Let me ask you this:
Have they won anything while I was gone? While they were busy shuffling managers and in their lowest period in their history, fighting relegation,
I was winning the AFC Champions League."
, especially after a loss. But
Comizzo's not one to shy away from controversy. Would his confrontational tactics work in the long run? No matter, as in the present, it was time for
Muni to start the
Peruvian Cup,
La Copa Bicentenario (called this way because of Peru's 200-year anniversary of independence). And our first match, perhaps poetically came against a traditional rival, Sport Boys del Callao. Historically speaking-and also in the past decades' points table-our dear
Muni and Sport Boys (also known as "Los Rosados" due to their pink and black kit) have had similar trajectories, having had storied teams in their history but being overwhelmed by the
Supremacy of the Big 3 in recent decades. Even though the rivalry is not fierce, they are both deeply rooted organizations that are looking to bring themselves back to relevance, so it was fitting that the first match was against them! We were able to beat them 1-0 in a very close match, courtesy of a late goal by
Cuello with an assist by
Farfán! We moved on to the next round! Back in the League, it was time to face UTC de Cajamarca, yet another match at altitude (
2.750 m above sea level). Although this wasn't as drastic a change as against Cienciano or Binacional, it was still a tough match, one which seemed to be headed to a 1-1 draw.. But then, out of nowhere in extra time, it was
Jefferson Farfán once again playing the hero's role, with his second game winning goal of the season! This time, the three points were ours, and this was a really nice way to recuperate in the league after the loss to Universitario.
"La Foca" Farfán for the win!!
Back in the
Cup however, our fortunes would be different, as we lost in the second round against Alianza Universidad, the same team who had made their comeback against is in
Fixture 2, as they were able to oust us 0-2. A respectable performance by us in the
Cup, although we did feel like we had a bit more to progress further. Still, we had two matches to go before the midseason break, as we were poised to face Cesar Vallejo (UCV) and once again our historical rivals, Sport Boys.
Even though our first match was a bit of a disappointment, as we went to the Northern Coastal city of Trujillo (in much warmer weather than we are used to) and lost resoundingly to UCV 3-0, we were able to rebound nicely against Boys in
Fixture 17 back at our grounds, winning 2-0! After the first half of the season was over, we were sitting in the top half of the table in 6th place, with a record of
7 Wins, 4 Draws, and 6 losses, a bit over .500 effectiveness, and even though we had let some chances slip away,
we were in good position heading into the second half.
, and the order of teams played in the home-and-away format. At the halfway point,
Sporting Cristal was leading the world and had a huge lead in the table.. Even though catching them would be difficult, we knew we were in a good position to perhaps fight for a
Libertadores spot. We opened
Fixture 18 with a somewhat pallid 0-0 draw against Alianza Atletico de Sullana, followed by a disappointing 1-2 loss to Alianza Universidad at home. It is noteworthy to mention that we missed a lot of chances in these two matches, perhaps due to us debuting 4 new players (two from the youth system and two signings, the team was still trying to find its way).
We rebounded quite well in the next 2 games though.
Fixture 20 was an impressive win 0-3 against surprising Mannucci, a game which featured a strong performance by our newly signed midfielder,
Rafael Sangiovani, straight from Argentina's Rosario Central (he scored a goal and assisted another)! A promising match for our 23-year old. the
next fixture was a very adventurous 3-2 match against Cienciano de Cusco, and we prevailed 3-2 in an intense, very South American 90 minutes! In addition to Sangiovani's performance, these two games were noteworthy for two reasons: The continuing emergence of
Jefferson Farfán as not only a goalscorer but also an assist man, and it is also important to note that our two youth products,
Condorí on the wings and
Axel Quispe as a strong Defensive Midfielder had strong performances! A good augury for the future.
This was a 2-1-1 start in the first four games of the second phase, as we maintained our top 6 position in the standings!
Yet for this streak,
the difficulty of the Peruvian League would rear its head once again: We weren't able to maintain our form in the following
3 Fixtures, as we drew 2-2 against Binacional at home, lost a very surprising match against San Martín 2-1 at their grounds (who were fighting relegation and would continue to do so for the rest of the season, this was a surprising result), and lost once again against league leaders
Sporting Cristal, in
Fixture 24! (
Cristal was well on their way in their march towards the title at this point). Yet we could find somewhat of a silver lining in the fact that we fought
Cristal this time, played neck and neck and tooth by tooth with them despite the 2-1 loss;
Farfán scored the first goal off a penalty and our backup Center Forward
Naranjo was very close to equalizing in minute 74.. That being said, the encounter ended with a very high number of shots attempted, and could be seen as somewhat of a
moral victory for us, the fact that we were able to go toe to toe against the team that is dominating the league (not to mention coached by
Comizzo's old Nemesis, Manager
Roberto Mosquera, also known as Morpheus for his bald-headed, dark glasses look). In fact, the press conference after the match was quite lively, detailing both managers' emerging rivalry at this point:
Roberto Mosquera: "
Muni is a strong team, but we are a class above them, and I was a bit disappointed by the fact that we didn't put them away. In fact, I still consider our direct rivals to be
Alianza Lima, and
Universitario, they are the
Big 3 and
Muni is on the outside looking in. I just hope
Comizzo doesn't burn the team out by seeking too much protagonism."
Angel Comizzo: "
Mosquera said that? Typical. Let him talk, let him run his mouth..
It's very easy when their budget is three times as big as ours and you have the backing of a large company. I came here to win, and the fact that he feels like he needs to put me down shows that deep inside,
he is afraid. Afraid of what we might become. Afraid of the fact that we played him man-to-man this time.
Yeah, you're leading the league this year, but we shall see in the future. We shall definitely see."
Undoubtedly motivated by
Comizzo's words, we went came out quite strong in our next encounter.
Fixture 25 matched us up against Sport Huancayo (A surprisingly disappointing side: they were touted as a top-half table team but had been on a tailspin as of late), and we were able to take advantage of their poor form by drubbing them 3-1 in estadio
Elias Moreno! A nice win for us, which was followed by our only defeat in this sequence of matches, a 1-2 loss against perennial title contenders Melgar, a team which might not have the
firepower of Cristal but who has fielded very good teams in the past 10 years and are always in the mix..
Fixture 27 would follow, as we went up against arguably the
toughtest crowd in all of Peru,
Alianza Lima and their huge, incalculable fanbase in
Estadio Alejandro Villanueva in the working-class area of
Matute, Lima.
Alianza Lima is considered by many as
"the people's team", the most popular team in the country by a good margin and with a huge following in all social classes,
AL had presented a fortress in their stadium, led by their captain,
Argentinean Hernán "El Pirata Barcos", and boasting top-class signings such as
Peruvian NT players Andre Carrillo at the wing and goalkeeper Pedro Gallese.. An impressive squad. So even more impressive was the fact that we had beaten them the first time, and were able to salvage a 1-1 draw (after conceding an early goal by
Barcos, we clawed our way back in the second half, as our other recent acquisition
Rodrigo Rivero was able to equalize!). This was a very good result against a tough title contender, the team with the
largest fanbase in the country and one of the
"Big 3".
Farfán was emotional after the match (he had received a standing ovation after the final whistle ended).
Jefferson Farfán: "Like I mentioned in my last game against
Alianza Lima, I grew up a fan. Coming to Matute, wearing
Municipal's colors, and playing in front of a team where I won titles as a youth was very emotional. When the people stood up and clapped for me, I just realized that no matter what happens,
Alianza will always be part of my past,
just as Muni is part of my heart and my childhood. This was an incredible night, and I'm happy that we were able to come away with a positive result."
The inspiring result against
Alianza, the draw at their stadium, was a huge morale boost for
Comizzo and our players, propelling us to
3 straight wins in fixtures 28, 29, and 30: 1-2 vs Cantolao, 2-0 vs Ayacucho, and 1-2 vs Cusco! (Not Cienciano de Cusco, but their crosstown rivals, Cusco FC)! This was win against Cusco was very special, since we were
finallly able to beat a team in the insane altitude of the Peruvian highlands in the Southeast part of the country.
Comizzo wasn't happy with the fact that we, once again, had to go 3600-3700 meters to play in what seemed like inhumane conditions for players from the
Lima Pacific coasts, but there was absolutely nothing we could to about it but grit our teeth and play with our heart. (
When the lungs don't work, run with the heart). This was an intense match, as all 3 goals came in the first half, and the second half was more of a scrappy encounter than a skilled one, as each possession seemed like our players were out of breath. Even with the depleted oxygen, we were able to hold on, and this win, perhaps more than any other this season, showed a lot of character and the resilience and
siege "us against them" mentality that
Comizzo is characterized for. Our talent was enough to pull us through in the first half (
Farfán with the beautiful assist to el
Búfalo Ovelar, and
Condorí coming through once again as a young promise) and we showed a ton of grit in the second half to hold on.
Comizzo had tons to say after the match:
Comizzo: "I want to instill a
fighting mentality in this team. Once again we went up to play where no football player should play,
that damned altitude that is the absolute bane of Peruvian Football, and we were able to scratch out a win. Our players were absolutely gassed at the end of the day, but we were able to hold on through the strength of pure and sheer willpower, nothing else. But I repeat, these conditions are absolutely ridiculous. I wonder how many points Cienciano, Cusco, and Binacional win not because of power and effort, but because of
that ridiculous home field advantage. But no matter. These are the cards that we are dealt, and we gotta play with them.
I am immensely proud of my players."
This really convincing streak of 3 straight wins gave us a lot of hope.. Interestingly enough, with only 4 matches left to go, the hope of
Copa Libertadores was very much alive! It is important to note that
in Peru, the top two teams qualify automatically to group stage, and the teams that are ranked #3 and #4 play
in the Libertadores qualifying stage (a kind of a preliminary round).. The guts-and-heart win against Cusco took us all the way to
#5 in the rankings, with only goal difference separating us from #4 Mannucci! W
e were effectively tied for 4th place, and earning a
Libertadores berth was well within reach! Would we be able to maintain our late-season streak?
The last 4 matches were interesting, even if the results were not optimal. First came an away game vs
Universitario, in yet another testy encounter, this time in the largest stadium in Peru and second biggest in South America,
Estadio Monumental. This encounter was chock-full of emotion and bitterness as well. The
Universitario crowd taunted
Comizzo all throughout, yet our
Argentine protagonist just stood there,
clapping and smiling and gesturing to their crowd in the Monumental stands, as if he were saying
"sure, bring it on, bring it on!" The match itself was tough and physical, full of yellow cards on both sides, and even a
red card for one of our players! (Youngster
Axel Quispe, after accumulating two yellow cards).
Comizzo went on a furious tirade against the press, raging at what he perceived to be favoritism in the refereeing.
Comizzo: "Today was a perfect example of the favoritism that
Universitario is receiving from the
Federation, as they don't want them to be relegated, that's damn obvious. Did you see
Quispe's second foul? Was that worthy of a second yellow card? VAR wasn't even called, and given the circumstances, a normal shoulder barge which would otherwise be a normal foul, all of a sudden today is a yellow card,
leading to a red? Like I said:
Universitario is at the doors of relegation (they were never in this situation while I was coaching them) and the
Peruvian Football Federation wants to do everything in its power to make sure they
"stay in first division". You gotta be blind not to see this, and if I'm the only one who's got the balls to come out and say this, well, so be it.
We were robbed, widely and in front of the whole country."
The
Peruvian Football Federation was not pleased this time, not only content with giving
Comizzo a fine of 20,000 soles (double the amount of his first fee), but also suspending him for the next match due to his comments! And his absence was definitely felt.
Fixture 32 was a disappointing result, A 1-3 result against UTC (Cajamarca) was replete with
defensive mistakes.. Even though we started the match well with
Farfán scoring in minute 22, an uncleared ball, a goalie throw which fell way short, and many other amateurish mistakes doomed the match as Cajamarca scored 3 to pull off the upset. And even though
Comizzo was back on the sidelines for
Fixture 33, against Cesar Vallejo, he couldn't prevent another negative result, an 0-1 defeat against yet another team that we were supposed to beat in terms of squad strength.
A couple of highly disappointing results after the Universitario drama. Yet amazingly, even after these two consecutive losses, we faced the last fixture with a chance to qualify for
Libertadores, depending on other results! Even though our chances were quite small mathematically speaking to qualify, we still wanted to go all out in our last fixture against Sport Boys del Callao! And we did go all out,
finishing the season strong with a 1-2 win at their stadium (after being down 1-0 in only 2 minutes, we showed a lot of mettle and scored 2 goals before the first half ended, a header off a perfectly placed corner by
Farfán, scored by
Quispe (who was back from his unfair suspension against
Universitario, and a goal in minute 45 courtesy of our captain and staring
#9, El Búfalo Ovelar). Overall, this was a solid way to finish up an up-and-down season, a season in which
we had plenty of joys,
plenty of disappointments, and
a heart-pumping finale. Now, it was time to take a look at the standings..
After it was all said and done, Melgar had won their last game against Alianza Atlético de Sullana, so
we finished in 5th place, one point behind them and
just outside of Libertadores pre-qualification zone! In the
second phase of the season, we went
7-4-7, for an overall season record of
14 wins, 7 draws, and 13 losses, with a performance of just above 50%! What is very interesting about this season is that, taking a look at the table,
only 6 points separated #3 Melgar and #15 Universitario, in fact the table couldn't have been tighter! Even though
Sporting Cristal ran away with the title (the result was little in doubt several fixtures before the end of the season, with an 11 point lead over second place Mannucci),
the rest of the table was incredibly tight, showing the evenness of the
Peruvian League! The sentiments amongst the
Muni faithful is that we, in a sense, were quite lucky to have finished
as high as #5, given our record and total accumulated points, yet in a sense, it was a good reflection of the
insane first season that we endured,
a season full of friction, competitiveness, controversy, passion, and most of all.. personality! Farfán had a marvelous season, finishing second in the league in goals scored (13), and first in assists (with 10), earning Player of the Year and exceeding all expectations given the doubts that shrouded him before the start of the League..
Despite the fact that we were
oh-so-close to qualifying to Libertadores, and the tail-end of the season was fraught with drama, this first season was considered a success for
Deportivo Municipal, by both the fans and the media. Not only did
Farfán's knees hold up, but he absolutely shined with his superior quality, fulfilling the prophecy made by
Comizzo at the start of the season
"He is the best player in the League". Even though we lost
Matzuda early on (due to a Chilean team paying his release clause and transfer), we were able to rejuvenate our team and promote a couple of players from our youth system (
Muni has been known in the past for having a good farm system, and this year was no exception). No, we didn't win the league, and no, we didn't qualify for an International Tournament (by a sliver!), but
Comizzo did what very few people deemed possible at the beginning:
He gave back Muni its pride, aided considerably by
Farfán's talent,
Ovelar's captainship and steady leadership, and
promising young players who are finding a cohesion and more importantly, an identity! Tactics are overrated. X's and O's will remain dots on a board. The engine of this season was
The Force of Personality, creating a new ambition from scratch on the shoulders of a historical team which
should've never lost its mystique, its magic.. That, more than anything, is what I will take from this season.
The Mystique is back, the historical weight of
Muni has returned, and our aspirations for season 2 loom large on the
Peruvian horizon, on the shores of Lima, the faded grandeur of
Deportivo Municipal is faded no more!
Jefferson Farfán: "This season was magical for me, personally. This was the season where I proved to myself that I am still a football player, that the second half of my career starts now. But the focus is entirely on the team.
I have just signed a 5-year extension with Muni. I want to continue my career here indefinitely. My ambitions are here.
Not in Europe, not in Brazil or Argentina, but here..
In Club Deportivo Municipal, where I hope to bring fans a lot of joys and continue restoring their name in
Peru and
South America!"
Reporter: "Thanks
Jefferson. Now on to
Mr. Comizzo, what is your overall balance of this season? Do you feel like you've gained more enemies than friends, and do you consider your first year at
Muni a success?"
Ángel Comizzo: "What kind of question is that? Nobody would've expected a
#5 position when the season started. Yeah, the table was very tight, but these were the results, and I
refuse to let the media or anyone else spin the results to their advantage. We had to fight everything this season:
questionable refereeing, the
Peruvian Football Federation,
ghastly altitude in the highlands, but in the end,
we prevailed, and were
ONE POINT AWAY from Libertadores. Do you know what this means? We are chipping at the heels of the leaders, and all I have to say at the end of the day is this:
Cristal, you are at the corner of my eye. We're gonna be aiming high next season, and not only will we look to reinforce ourselves in the offseason, but will look to
fight for the title and an international competition. Just like that. I didn't come here to meekly give excuses. We are going all out next season, and in terms of friends and enemies, all I can say is: well, hell, that's just the way it goes, I don't really care about that. I am here for one reason:
TO DEFEND THE COLORS OF CLUB DEPORTIVO MUNICIPAL!!!!!"
Stay tuned for
Season 2 of
Comizzo and
Farfán's journey in South America, to be played in
PES 2021!!
Football Is Not Just a Game. It's an Emotion, a Feeling, an Experience. 
Introducing, Montenegrin Striker, 21 year-old Milo Mugosa!! 
)
This is why it is not only a game, but something much, much more. 
