Peru vs. Brazil: Struggling with the "Matute Curse"
Prior to the Peru vs. Brazil match for the 2nd round of the 2026 Qualifiers, there has been surprising talk about the stay at the Alianza Lima Stadium, mentioning that Fernando Diniz's team will have to overcome the "Matute Curse".
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This was revealed by the media outlet Trivia, who even reviewed all the teams and national teams that trained at the Alejandro Villanueva Stadium and did not succeed in achieving their goals.
The stories told refer to what happened to River Plate and the Uruguayan national team, as the former lost the Copa Libertadores final against Flamengo in 2029, while the Uruguayans were unable to win against Peru in the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup.
"Flamengo defeated River Plate 2-1 in the final held at the Monumental Stadium, home of the Universitário de Lima, to win their second Libertadores championship. You can already guess where the Millionaires trained, right? Among the national teams, Uruguay did not escape the Matute curse during the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup. In March 2017, the Celeste prepared to face Peru at Matute. Then came the 2-1 defeat against the Peruvian national team. Fortunately, the Uruguayans easily secured their qualification for the World Cup in Russia," they explained.
The Brazilian press stated that the "Curse" also affected Colón
In the same way, Trivia highlighted that not only did this curse affect these teams, but it also affected Colón de Santa Fe, as the Argentinian team lost the final of the 2019 Copa Sudamericana against Independiente del Valle after having a stint at Matute in the first phase of the competition.
"River Plate was not the only Argentinian team that trained at Matute and finished as runners-up in 2019. Colón lost the South American final against Independiente del Valle, from Ecuador, at the Defensores del Chaco stadium, by 3-1. So far, so good. The curious thing is that the team faced Deportivo Municipal, from Peru, in the first phase of the competition. There were two victories. 3-0 on Peruvian soil, in the first leg, and 2-0 in Argentina, to seal the qualification in the second leg. And didn't Colón also train at Matute before the first match?" they expressed.