Latin American Roundup

River Plate-Banfield match suspended by crowd violence

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) -- Rioting fans forced an Argentine championship match to be abandoned midway through the second half with championship contenders River Plate losing by a stunning 5-0 scoreline away to lowly Banfield.

The referee called the game off in the 66th minute after River Plate supporters opened a hole in the fencing around the pitch and then clashed with police who went onto the terraces.

Police fired tear gas into the supporters as they attempted to restore order. There were no immediate reports of arrests or injuries.

The game was the second to be abandoned by crowd violence -- a serious problem in Argentine football -- in the championship and the second involving River to be cut short this year.

Under usual practice adopted in Argentina, the result is almost certain to stand and local media have already added it into their league tables.

Banfield, who had not beaten River for 28 years, raced to a 3-0 lead in half an hour with two goals from Roberto Calautti and a Martin Demichelis own goal.

Ivan Moreno added a fourth in the 42nd minute and Walter Jimenez made it even worse for the visitors seven minutes after halftime.

River, who had only lost once before Sunday, had expected a comfortable win at Banfield, who had only won twice and almost doubled their goals for tally in one match.

The result left River (27 points) second in the Apertura championship, five points behind leaders Independiente who struggled to a 1-0 win over Estudiantes.

Both teams have six games left and River's next fixture is at home to their arch-rivals Boca Juniors next Sunday.

Independiente's Pablo Guinazu and Estudiantes' Leo Ramos were sent off for fighting in the 17th minute before the Red Devils finally won a rough match with a 73rd minute goal by Rodolfo Aquino.

Boca stayed third with 24 points after a 2-1 win at home to struggling Chacarita Juniors. Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Hugo Ibarra gave Boca a 2-0 lead and Matias Delgado pulled back a late goal for the visitors.

Former Argentine Nestor Gorosito got the first win of his coaching career as Nueva Chicago beat Arsenal 3-1 to move off the bottom of the table.

Gorosito joined the club ten days ago but lost his first two games in charge.

Racing Club, under former Tottenham and Argentina midfielder Osvaldo Ardiles, climbed to ninth with a 2-0 win at Olimpo, where Diego Milito scored both goals in the first half.

Rosario Central, under Argentina's 1978 World Cup winning coach Cesar Luis Menotti, were held 2-2 at home by Talleres, their sixth match without a win, and slipped to seventh.

Veteran coach Hector Veira made a losing start at Newell's Old Boys, the latest club in his long career, as they lost 2-1 to Gimnasia-La Plata.

Romario on the scoresheet in another troublesome week

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) -- Veteran striker Romario ended another troublesome week by scoring his ninth goal of the Brazilian championship for Fluminense on Sunday while fans of defending champions Atletico Paranaense turned their backs in protest as their team lost again.

The 36-year-old Romario, who won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994, had become embroiled in yet another controversy over the privileges he enjoys at Fluminense before Sunday's match with Bahia.

He walked out halfway through a training session on Friday and failed to turn up at all on Saturday.

Coach Renato Portaluppi said he had agreed to let the temperamental striker skip training but club directors were angry because they said they had not been told.

Romario made amends by scoring the only goal as Fluminense climbed to 13th in the championship, moving away from the relegation zone and towards the top eight who qualify for the quarterfinals.

They overtook Atletico Parananense, who were early leaders of the competition but who dropped to 15th after losing 3-2 at home to Internacional as Abel Braga made his debut as their third coach in less than one month.

It was their sixth game without a win.

Atletico dominated the match but were denied by superb goalkeeping by Clemer, who turned away four long-range drives from World Cup winning midfielder Kleberson, and by their own sloppy defending.

Internacional defender Luiz Alberto scored two second half goals to put the visitors 3-1 ahead after goals by Internacional's Mahicon Librelato and Atletico's Alex Mineiro had sent the teams in level at halftime.

Dagoberto pulled back an 85th minute goal but most Atletico fans missed the goal because they had spent the last half hour with their backs to the pitch in protest.

Although the supporters celebrated the goal, they still refused to turn around.

Media reports said afterwards that several Atletico players had their cars vandalised by angry fans.

Sao Paulo, missing suspended midfielder Kaka, stayed top by beating Guarani 2-1 away thanks to a hugely controversial penalty awarded to and converted by Luis Fabiano.

Television replays suggested no contact was made as Luis Fabiano went to ground as he shielded the ball in the penalty area.

Sao Caetano, runners-up for the last two years, stayed two points behind by beating Paysandu 2-1 with an 85th minute goal by Adhemar.

Juventude, coached by former Paris St Germain and Brazil defender Ricardo Gomes, are a further point behind in third place after beating Coritiba 5-3.

The teams who had begun the game with the two best defensive records in the competition.

Gremio's Rodrigo Fabri and Gama's Dimba, the competition's joint topscorers, were both on target again as their teams met on Saturday to take their tallies to 14.

Gremio won 3-1 thanks to two late penalties converted by Anderson and climbed to tenth.

Atletico Mineiro beat Cruzeiro 2-1 in the Belo Horizonte derby, which boasts one of the country's fiercest rivalries, while Flamengo, the country's most popular club, left the relegation zone after a 2-1 win at Vitoria.

Cardozo scores twice to smash Mexico scoring record

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- Paraguayan striker Jose Cardozo scored two more goals for Toluca at the weekend to smash the goalscoring record in the Mexican championship.

Cardozo's double in Toluca's 6-0 win over UAG took his tally to 20, a record since Mexico began the current system under which two championships are played every year in the mid-1990s.

Cardozo, who has been in rampant form, reached his total in only 14 games and still has five more to increase the tally.

His achievement overshadowed a 17-minute hat-trick for Uruguayan team Vicente Sanchez. Rafael Garcia scored the other goal.

"I'm very happy because I owe a lot to Mexican football and Toluca," said Cardozo, who has scored a club record 162 goals for Toluca. "This team creates a lot of goal chances and that's why it's been possible to break the record."

Toluca lead group one with 33 points from 14 games and have scored 40 goals.

UNAM, coached by former Real Madrid and Mexico striker Hugo Sanchez, also went on a scoring spree as they thrashed Guadalajara 7-1.

The team known as the Pumas devoured opposition nicknamed the Goats with a hat-trick from Mariano Trujillo and one each from Alvaro Gonzalez, Jaime Lozano, Luis Ignacio Gonzalez and Brazilian Leandro Augusto.

UNAM lead group two, where they have opened up a six-point lead over UAG. Guadalajara are second in group three behind Santos Laguna who lost a six-match unbeaten run in a 3-1 defeat at Atlante.

Queretaro produced an amazing comeback to draw 3-3 at home to Chiapas as both teams played their first game under new coaches.

The Jaguars, where Chilean Jorge Garces was making his debut, rushed to a three-goal with two goals from Argentine Alejandro Glaria and an own goal from his compatriot Diego Capria.

But the White Roosters, in their first game under Demetrio Madero, hit back with two goals from Uruguayan Josemir Lujambio and one from Misael Espinosa.

Monterrey, under former Argentine coach Daniel Passarella, were held 1-1 by local rivals UNL while defending champions won 1-0 at Puebla with a last-minute own goal from Colombian Mauricio Serna.

Nacional run riot after Uruguay strike averted

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (Reuters) -- Uruguayan champions Nacional hammered Villa Espanola 5-0 at the weekend after a strike threat by the country's footballers was temporarily averted.

Uruguayan footballers, who claimed they are owed $190,000 in unpaid wages, had threatened to call off the weekend's programme in protest.

They backed down after last-minute talks with the football association and the Tenfield company, which owns television rights to the championship but warned that they will go ahead and strike if they are not paid early next week.

The strike threat is the latest development in the financial crisis which has hit football across South American.

Chile's players staged a three-week strike in September while their colleagues in Argentina twice went on strike last year over unpaid wages and bonuses.

Several clubs have been forced to postpone matches in the Bolivian championship because of lightning strikes by their teams.

Nacional, one of Uruguay's two most popular clubs, have been among the worst hit.

Their players say they have not been paid for five months and have already started their own protest by refusing to train more than once a day and by not taking part in so-called "concentration" session in the 24 hours before games.

Nacional's players put their problems behind them as they produced one of the best results of the season to go third in the second stage of the championship.

Cameroon striker Pierre Webo, who joined Nacional two years ago, scored four of their goals, doubling his tally in this year's competition.

The 20-year-old African, who is on the fringe of the first team, also set up the other goal for Brazilian Cassiano.

Danubio's 3-1 win over Deportivo Maldonado took them top, ahead of Penarol who were held 2-2 by Wanderers.

Unsung Venezuela overcome Ecuador in friendly

A first half header by defender Jose Rey and a 78th minute goal by substitute Wilfredo Moreno gave Venezuela their second win in a row after the beat Bolivia by the same score in August.

They also maintained an 18-month unbeaten home record under coach Richard Paez, who has transformed the fortunes of a team used to suffering heavy defeats wherever they play.

The team's improvement has caught the imagination of the Venezuelan public, who still prefer baseball to soccer, and an enthusiatic 28,000 crowd packed the Olimpico stadium -- a remarkably high turnout for a friendly in Caracas.

Venezuela dominated the match despite being without key foreign-based midfielders Juan Arango and Rafael Mea Vitali.

Ecuador, playing their second match since making their first World Cup appearance in June, were also without foreign-based players including England-based Ulises de la Cruz and Agustin Delgado and Spanish-based Ivan Kaviedes.

 

Related information

Stories

Americas: Palmeiras moves off bottom in Brazil AC Milan draws even with Inter atop Serie A

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.