CONMEBOL roundup 24 March 2011

Colombia


Once Caldas may be struggling in the Copa Libertadores but they are still top of the table and unbeaten in Colombia after a 2-0 win against bottom side Deportivo Pereira who have now gone an incredible 33 league games without a win.

Junior are in the opposite situaltion to Once Caldas, they have won four out of four in the Libertadores but have lost three in a row in the league, their latest defeat being a 3-0 thrashing by La Equidad.

Atlético Nacional are in second place five points behind Once Caldas after they won 3-0 win against Cúcuta Deportivo leapfrogging Itagüí Ditaires who lost 2-1 at Millonarios in a game that featured two cracking goals, this great curling effort from Cleider Alzáte to open the scoring and this spectacular individual effort from Jefferson Angulo to win the game.

The craziest game of the weekend was Envigado's 1-1 draw with Atlético Huila, which had four red cards, the home team finshed the game with only eight players.

Uruguay


Defensor Sporting continued their leadership of the division on sixteen points from seven games with a 2-0 win against Miramar Misiones, Fénix are two points behind in second after an impressive 2-4 away win at Racing.

Nacional are three points down in third place with a game in hand after a 3-0 win against Cerro and Peñarol are six points behind with two in hand after their game against bottom side River Plate was postponed due to their Copa Libertadores commitments.

Paraguay

The form team in Paraguay are Guaraní who have won three games back to back, and are nine points behind the leaders Olimpia with three games in hand. They played twice this week and beat Sol de América 2-0 and Rubio Ñú 2-1.

Olimpia dropped points for the second game in a row in a 0-0 draw away at Libertad. Leonardo Astrada's Cerro Porteño kept up the chase with three points but they made hard work of their 1-0 win against 10 man Sportivo Luqueño having to wait for an 87th minute winner from Luis Caceres.

Nacional also picked up three points to keep their championship hopes alive with a 0-2 away win against Tres de Febrero.

Venezuela

Zamora are the new leaders in Venezuela after they won 3-0 against Trujillanos and the previous leaders Anzoátegui lost 0-1 at home to Yaracuyanos. Caracas are four points down in third place with a game in hand but were not in action at the weekend due to Copa Libertadores commitments.

Peru

Cienciano lost ground in the Peruvian title race after a 1-0 away defeat at Sporting Cristal in which their Argentine manager Marcelo Trobbiani was sent off for entering the pitch after Cristal's Argentine manager Guillermo Rivero complained to the referee. Trobbiani faces a three game suspension after his angry reaction towards Rivero's interference.

The big story is the really poor displays of Peru's two Libertadores representatives. Reigning champions Universidad San Martín are in the relegation zone having failed to win any of their last four league games, their latest defeat was a 2-1 reversal at newly promoted Unión Commercial. The other Libertadores representatives León are not doing much better, they lost 1-3 at home to CNI and are only one point above the drop zone.

Bolivia

Oriente Petrolero may be the Copa Libertadores group two whipping boys but they are doing fine in their domestic league, a 0-1 away win at Guabirá keeps them three points clear at the top of the table.

Unlike last weekend five of the top six sides bagged wins. Bolívar won 1-2 at Real Mamoré, San José won 2-1 against Blooming, Nacional bagged a 0-1 away win at La Paz and The Strongest also got an away win, 0-1 at Aurora.

Chile



Colo-Colo's resurgance faltered at the weekend when their five game winning run was ended with a 1-1 home draw against Cobreloa.

Universidad Cátolica stayed at the top of the division after a 2-1 win against Santiago Morning and second placed Unión La Calera also won their game with a 3-1 home victory against Audax Italiano.

The most impressive performance of the round was La Sirena's 0-4 away win against Huachipato.

Ecuador

Deportivo Quito are still the leaders after a 3-2 win against Imbabura on Saturday, the newly promoted visitors dropped to the bottom of the table after this result but they can be reasonably proud to have given the league leaders a tough game and especially pleased with this excellent long range goal from Mauricio Follaco.

It is beginning to look like a three horse race for the title. Liga de Quito are in second place one point behind with a game in hand after they beat Liga de Loja 1-2 on Sunday and won 0-2 at Deportivo Cuenca in midweek. The third team are Emelec who are six points behind the leaders with two games in hand after they beat Independiente 3-1.

For more South American football highlights, including the Argentine & Brazilian leagues and international tournaments: click here.

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