Uruguay: Tacuarembo unexpectedly held defending champions Nacional to a 1-1 draw on Friday night at the Centenario stadium in Uruguay. After giving up a goal in the opening minute, Mario Regueiro, a former winger for Valencia, gave Nacional a point with 30 minutes left to play.
Penarol, the most popular team in Uruguay, defeated Cerro 2-1 in a hotly contested match on Saturday to win two games in a row. Penarol will probably compete for the championship after receiving a ton of quality reinforcement this season.
Other outcomes included Liverpool defeating Atenas 2-1, River Plate and Central Espanol drawing 3-3, and Danubio defeating Defensor Sporting 1-0 thanks to Alvaro Recoba.
Colombia: In the opening round of the Colombian Apertura championship on Saturday, Yovani Arrechea scored twice to help Millonarios defeat Atletico Nacional 2-1. Over 40,000 spectators saw a dramatic match at the Campin de Bogota stadium during which two players were dismissed.
Independiente Medellin and Independiente Santa Fe battled to a scoreless draw at the Atanasio Girardot stadium. Independiente failed to take use of their numerical advantage during the last seven minutes of play while the visitors played with 10 men.
The 4-3 triumph against Once Caldas by Real Cartagena on Sunday was the most thrilling game of the round. In other games, America de Cali and Atletico Huila were tied 2-2, Envigado defeated Cucuta 1-0, and Chico triumphed over Cortulua 2-1.
Brazil: Within the opening 10 minutes of Corinthians’ derby triumph against Palmeiras, Roberto Carlos was dismissed. After mistiming a tackle, the former Real Madrid great was given a straight red card. Corinthians gained the three points and increased their lead in the Paulista State title thanks to Jorge Henrique’s goal just seconds earlier.
The visitors controlled the most of the game in front of the 30,000 spectators at Pacaembu Stadium, but despite playing for more than eighty minutes with 10 men, Corinthians hung on to the victory. Ronaldo, a former World Player of the Year, sat out the contest.
In the meantime, Internacional defeated Gremio 1-0 in the Gaucho championship thanks to an Alecsandro goal ten minutes from time. As is typical in the Gre-Nal derby, it was a closely contested game with little opportunities for either club to score goals.
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