Piero Alva (born 14 February 1979 in Lima) is a Peruvian international football striker. He currently Retired.
Playing Style
Despite his winding up as one of the top goal scorers in his teams, Alva is more of a thinking, dribbling, and running forward who creates his own scoring chances and for his teammates, coming down fast by the sides, rather than being a speculative center-forward striker.
Club career
Alva got his start in Universitario de Deportes as a youth. He got his break in 1998 when Oswaldo Piazza decided to promote several teenage players to the main line-up of the team, particularly after the team had secured the Apertura cup and thus a place in the final game. This generation of players included Manuel Barreto, Mario Gómez, Jorge Araujo, Anthony Matellini, Luis Cordero, Oswaldo Carrion, Francisco Bazán, among others. Alva's debut was in the 2nd half of a game against classic rival Sporting Cristal, a match that Universitario lost. However, Universitario won the 1998 tournament. Alva continued getting chances, despite his controversial playing style; he showed much skill but often did not know when to let go of the ball. It was enough to get him called to the U-20 Peru national team. By 2000, with the departure of Mauro Cantoro and Roberto Farfan from the team, Alva entered the starting eleven. He formed a powerful striking duo playing alongside Eduardo Esidio, aiding him to score the record number of goals in Peruvian football history (and the 2nd highest number of goals by any player worldwide that year) while scoring many of his own – 17 in the Peruvian tournament and one in the Copa Merconorte – and leading Universitario to their historic third championship in a row, capturing both the Apertura and Clausura titles. He was called to join the Peru national football team.
In 2001 Alva was among a legion of star players of Universitario that demanded a much higher salary and left for other teams. Alva was hired by Sporting Cristal for what was rumored to be a $100,000 contract. However, Alva did not shine in his new team, and scored only 7 goals. But his play was good enough to attract the attention of Unión de Santa Fe in the Argentine league, where Alva left to play in 2002. This experience was short-lived and with little success. Alva returned to Peru, and in 2003 he played for Sport Boys, scoring 10 goals.
Alva moved to Alianza Atletico Sullana in 2004, scoring 4 goals in the Apertura tournament and aiding his team's offense overall. His play improved and was reminiscent of his peak in the 2000 season. This attracted the attention of Universitario, who got him on a loan for the Clausura tournament. He scored an additional 6 goals for 'la U'. He officially signed on for Universitario in 2005, scoring 12 goals while playing in the midfield as the team's '10'. Although 'la U' failed to win both the Apertura and Clausura, winding up in 2nd place both times, they still scored the most points and the most goals, and thus qualified for the Copa Libertadores. In 2006, in a striker role again, Alva scored 16 goals (3 in the Apertura, 13 in the Clausura), making him the second most effective striker of the Peruvian league. He was invited back to Peru national football team. He was also often the team captain of Universitario. However, fans blamed him for missing scoring chances with easy-seeming set-ups in key games that led to Universitario's failure to win the Clausura tournament; despite being in the lead, they were tied at last minute by Cienciano and then lost the final match.