CONMEBOL roundup: 15 March 2011

Colombia


Once Caldas may be struggling a bit in Copa Libertadores 2011 but they are racing away at the top of the Colombian league after hammering Deportes Quindío 5-1 with a hat-trick from Dayro Moreno. The second placed side are now newly promoted Itagüí Ditaires who beat América de Cali 1-0 and Atlético Nacional are in third position after a 1-3 away win against Atlético Huila.

There were a number of other interesting results too, Cúcuta Deportivo thrashed bottom of the table Deportivo Pereira 4-0, Boyacá Chicó won 3-0 at home against Real Cartagena, last year's runners-up Deportes Tolima lost their third game of the tournament in a 3-1 away defeat to Independiente and the only side left with a 100% record in the Copa Libertadores group stages Junior suffered a surprise 1-2 home defeat to Envigado who are now in fourth position.

Uruguay


Both of the sides that were slumped at the bottom of the table with no points at the beginning of the weekend managed to recored their first wins of the season. River Plate beat Danubio 3-1 and El Tanque Sisley won 1-0 against Central Español.

Defensor Sporting Club lead the way on 13 points despite only managing a 1-1 draw at Bella Vista. The two giants of Uruguayan football both won and both lie three points behind Defensor with a game in hand. Nacional won 0-2 at Liverpool and Peñarol won 0-2 at Cerro.

The surprise package of the first few rounds Tacurembó missed their chance to go top of the table after suffering a 1-0 away defeat to Miramar Misiones in the last fixture of the weekend.

Paraguay

It was a bad week for league leaders Olimpia who dropped their first points of the campaign in a midweek 0-0 draw away at Tacuary and then lost 1-3 at home against newly promoted Rubio Ñú on Sunday. Nery Pumpido's side were leading but former Paraguay international Roberto Acuña got the visitors back into the game with a quickly taken free kick.

Three was the magic number in the game between 3 de Febrero and Libertad, the visitors were leading 3-1 with three minutes to go but Nicolás Pavlovich of 3 de Febrero scored a couple of goals in the last three minutes to record a 3-3 draw. Libertad are nine points behind the leaders with three games in hand.

Second placed Nacional also slipped up only managing a 0-0 draw against a struggling Sportivo Luqueño side.

Cerro Porteño kept up their title chase too with a 2-3 away win at Sol de América, Argentine teenage sensation Juan Manuel Iturbe scored what turned out to be the decisive goal. Cerro are eleven points behind the leaders with three games in hand. Guaraní won their game too with a 0-1 away win against General Caballero to leave them fourteen points behind Olimpia with four games in hand.

Chile


Colo-Colo continued their recovery under new manager Américo Gallego with a 2-0 home win against second placed Unión Calera, their third win in a row in the league and their fourth consecutive win in all competitions. Lucás Wilchez scored the opening goal and then substitute José Fuenzalida scored the second only one minute after coming onto the pitch.

Leaders Universidad Cátolica got over their surprise midweek defeat to Caracas FC in Copa Libertadores  2011 to win 2-0 against Ñublense and take a three point lead at the top of the table.

O'Higgins are up to third position after an impressive 2-3 away win against Cobreloa and Palestino also bagged a 2-3 away win against La Serena to clamber off the bottom of the table. Deportes Iquique replaced Palestino at the bottom of the table but they only stayed there for one hour as they managed a 4-1 win against Santiago Wanderers.

Ecuador

Deportivo Quito have extended their lead at the top of the Primera División to four points with a midweek 3-1 win against Olmedo and a 0-1 away win against Barcelona Sporting Club on Sunday. Liga de Quito are still in second place after a 2-0 win against ESPOLI, they have two games in hand.

Deportivo Cuenca are in third place after a 0-1 at Manta, they remain one of only five top flight teams in South America to remain unbeaten in 2011, the others being Argentinos Juniors and Anzóategui of Venezuela and the Peruvian pair of Cobresol & Juan Aurich who have only actually played five games so far.

At the wrong end of the table newly promoted Imbabura climbed off the bottom of the table with a 3-2 win against LDU Loja, their first win of the season.

Peru

Alianza Lima still lead the way in Peru after a 0-2 win at Inti Gas and Ciencano kept up the chase with a convincing 4-0 demolition of Alianza Atlético.

Juan Aurich beat León 2-0 to keep their unbeaten record and Cobresol joined them as unbeaten with only nine points (won two drawn three) after a 2-2 draw with Sport Boys.

Both of Peru's Copa Libertadores representatives are struggling badly, León are down in eleventh place with six points from five games and reigning champions Universidad San Martín are in thirteenth place on five points from five games after losing 3-1 away at CNI.

Venezuela


Anzoátegui stayed top of the Venezuelan league with a 2-1 win against Real Esppor, the chasing pair both recorded handsome home wins. Second placed Zamora hammered Zulia 5-1 and third placed Caracas thumped Atlético Venezuela 4-0.

Deportivo Táchira's hard fought draw in Paraguay in midweek means that their game was postponed, they could jump up to fourth place with a win against rock bottom side Estudiantes de Merida on Wednesday.

Bolivia

Oriente Petrolero still lead the way in Bolivia after inflicting a humiliating 6-0 defeat on Bolívar who slipped down to third place on goal difference as a result. Mauricio Saucedo was the star of the show scoring the first four goals for the home team Jocelito Vaca and Alcides Peña bagged the other two goals. None of the other teams in the top seven managed to win allowing Blooming to climb up the table with a 0-3 away win against Gaubirá.

Aurora climbed into second position on goal difference despite losing 2-1 at Real Potosí. Real Mamoré climbed off the bottom of the table with a 2-0 win against Nacional, La Paz are now bottom of the table after losing 0-2 against Universitario and San José leapfrogged Nacional into fourth place despite only getting a 0-0 draw against The Strongest.

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

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