Latin American Roundup

Brazil's top clubs lose edge as playoffs start

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- Sao Paulo and Sao Caetano had the league's best records in the regular season, finishing one-two in the first division. Suddenly, they're struggling to avoid elimination.

Santos and Fluminense squeaked into the playoff round on the final day of the regular season. Now, after just 90 minutes of play on Sunday, they're cruising toward the semifinals.

The first round of Brazil's national soccer championship playoffs produced some surprises -- and raised questions about the fairness of the tournament's format.

Sao Paulo certainly could argue about fair play. The league leader watched the advantage it had built up during the 25-game season vanish in a single afternoon with a 3-1 upset to No. 8 finisher Santos.

Unbeaten in its previous 12 games, Sao Paulo was blindsided by a bunch of youngsters commanded by 17-year-old sensation Diego. The heir to Pele's No. 10 jersey scored a goal and passed for another, while the back line shut down a powerful attack that had scored a league-leading 57 goals.

When the teams meet again Thursday, Santos can advance to the semifinals even if it loses by a difference of one goal. Sao Paulo needs to win by two to qualify -- far from an impossible task for Kaka and Co.

Sao Caetano, the No. 2 finisher in the regular season, also saw its advantage disappear with a 3-0 rout by seventh-placed Fluminense.

Veteran Romario, in an unusual role as playmaker, commanded a devastating counterattack that dismantled Sao Caetano. He started the plays that led to all three goals, two by Magno Alves and another by Roni.

"The 'little guy' showed he's not only a high scorer. He's a complete superstar," Roni said of Romario.

Sao Caetano, the tournament's runner-up in 2000 and 2001, now must win by three goals to advance when the teams meet Wednesday in Sao Caetano do Sul. Fluminense, whose only national title was in 1984, can qualify even with a loss by two goals.

Corinthians virtually assured a semifinal berth, humiliating Atletico Mineiro 6-2 on its home field. Striker Deivid commanded the show with four goals, and linemate Gil added two to give Corinthians an all-but-insurmountable edge.

The three-time national champions can advance Wednesday even with a loss by four goals, while Atletico must come up with at least five goals, plug the gaping defensive holes and pray for a miracle.

The other quarterfinal rivalry remains a tossup. Gremio and Juventude battled to a 0-0 draw on Sunday, but Juventude has the advantage of playing for a tie in Wednesday's second-leg encounter.

The results have revived criticism of the strange formula the Brazilian Socccer Confederation used for the tournament.

Many clubs contend that Brazil should adopt a European-style format, whereby the club with the most points at the end of the season is champion. But the confederation chose a hybrid system, with the top eight clubs at the end of the regular season meeting in a home-and-away knockout round.

The formula adds drama and boosts revenue with the playoff matches, but it jeopardizes teams like Sao Paulo that outperformed the rest during the season.

The confederation has pledged to adopt a points-only system for next year's championship.

Passarella's Monterrey misses out on playoffs

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- Former Argentina coach Daniel Passarella's first season in Mexican football ended in failure when his team Monterrey missed out on a place in the quarterfinals of the Apertura championship.

Monterrey, needing to beat Necaxa to have any chance of earning a repechage, went down to a 2-1 defeat at Necaxa at the weekend and finished fourth in Group Two with five wins, seven draws and seven defeats in their 19 games.

Striker Antonio de Nigris, later sent off for a second bookable offence, gave Monterrey a first-half lead but two second-half goals from Mexican international Braulio Luna sank Passarella's team.

Club president Jorge Urdiales promised that Passarella's job was safe despite the failure.

"It was the price we had to pay for the Argentine coach to get to know Mexican football," he said.

Passarella, who coached Argentina in the 1998 World Cup and captained them 20 years previously when they won the trophy, signed a one-year contract which will take him until next May but Urdiales said he expected him to stay longer.

UAG and Santos Laguna claimed the last two places in the quarterfinals, joining already-qualified Toluca, America, UNAM, Morelia, Cruz Azul and Guadalajara.

UAG, under former Peru coach Julio Cesar Uribe, beat Chiapas 2-0 with late goals from Chilean Reinaldo Navia and Peruvian Roberto Palacios. They finished second in group two.

Santos Laguna thrashed Toluca, who had only lost one of their previous 18 games, 5-2 thanks to four goals from Eduardo Lillingston and one from Javier Manjarin to finish second in group two.

Toluca replied through Uruguayan Vicente Sanchez and Paraguayan Jose Cardozo, who took his tally to an astonishing 29 goals in 19 games.

America finished as overall leaders of the first stage after beating UNL 1-0 with a late strike from Mexican international Cuauhtemoc Blanco.

The 20 teams played each other once but were divided into four groups of five. The system does not always produce fair results as some groups often prove stronger than others but on this occasion the eight teams who qualified had the eight best records in the competition.

Uruguay

Modest Danubio won the second stage of the championship and will face Nacional, who won the first stage held earlier in the year, in the end-of-season final.

Penarol, the country's most popular club, will miss out on the final for the second year running despite beating their arch-rivals Nacional 4-2 in Sunday's derby.

Danubio drew 2-2 at Fenix and the combination of results left them four points clear of Penarol with one match each to play.

Martin Liguera twice put Fenix ahead but on each occasion veteran Argentine striker Claudio Biaggio replied within two minutes for Danubio. Juan Cabrera of Fenix and Ruben da Silva of Danubio were both sent off.

Veteran striker Pablo Bengoechea converted two free kicks for Penarol, whose other goals came from Lolo Estoyanoff and Argentine Daniel Jimenez, his 21st of the season. Teenager Horacio Peralta scored Nacional's goals, both from penalties.

Penarol paid dearly for having three points deducted because of the behaviour of their fans at a match earlier in the tournament.

Nacional's preparations for the final could be hit by a pay dispute. Players, complaining they are several months late being paid, have refused to train more than once a day or take part in pre-match "concentration" in protest.

Coach Daniel Carreno is hoping to persuade them to suspend the measures before the final.

Chile

San Felipe, who completed their 15 matches in the qualifying stage with 21 points, missed out on the knockout stages of the Clausura championship while Coquimbo, Palestino and Rangers, with 17, 12 and 11 points respectively, all qualified as the anomalies of the new-look tournament were again exposed.

Chile's 16 teams played each other once in the qualifying stage but were divided into four groups, with the top three in each going through.

The format made the qualifying stage a formality for the larger clubs, many of whom guaranteed their places with several matches to spare.

The distribution of teams also proved uneven with Coquimbo, who won group C, picking up fewer points than either Audax Italiano or San Felipe -- who finished bottom of groups B and D with 18 and 21 points respectively.

Universidad de Chile extended their unbeaten run to 13 matches with a 2-0 win over Santiago Morning, a result which condemned their opponents to relegation after four years in the top flight. Cesar Henriquez and Argentine Luis Rueda scored for the visitors.

Morning's place will be taken by Puerto Montt, who bounced back after only one season in the second division.

Universidad Catolica coach Juvenal Olmos increased speculation about his future when he failed to travel with his team to Cobreloa. Olmos said he was "planning for the next games" but media claim he has been arguing with directors over reinforcements for next year, when Catolica will take part in the South American Libertadores Cup.

Cobreloa, under former Chile coach Nelson Acosta, won 3-0 and finished with the first stage's best overall record of 34 points from 15 games -- a worthless achievement as the teams start from scratch in the knockout stages.

Bolivia

Mariscal Braun's match at home to Blooming was called off minutes before kick-off because the home team refused to play, claiming that only five of their opponents' players were eligible.

Blooming, who have been fielding a youth team since the start of November because of a strike by their professionals, argued that competition rules allowed them to field unregistered players if the professionals were unavailable. They also claimed they had fielded the same players in previous games without any problems.

But Mariscal Braun president Luis Alipaz was adamant. "We can't play like this, this is a professional championship, not a neighborhood kickabout," he said.

Officials from both teams spent around one hour arguing and discussing the matter before the game was abandoned.

Blooming were among the title contenders until their players went on strike in protest at salary cuts and unpaid wages. On Friday, the club agreed to pay the players October wages and release them without charging transfer fees.

Argentine coach Jose Luis Brown, who scored his country's first goal in the 1986 World Cup final, also walked out on Blooming in the row.

Since then, Blooming have slumped to sixth in the championship's second stage, their results including a 10-1 drubbing by Bolivar and a 8-0 defeat at Real Potosi.

Second-placed Oriente Petrolero beat leaders Bolivar 3-0 to close the gap to one point with two matches each to play. Teenage striker Jose Alfredo Castillo, who has already broken his own record of 42 goals in a season set last year, scored twice to take his tally this season to 46.

Peru

Universitario were forced to field a youth team against Cienciano after their professionals declared an indefinite strike on Friday in a dispute over unpaid wages. It was the latest blow to the club, who won the first stage of the championship but were then forced to disband their team because of an acute financial crisis.

Universitario have already lost the right to play in the end-of-season final against the second stage winners as they can no longer finish in the top four of the second stage.

The club's youngsters surprised a sparse crowd by taking a 2-1 lead through Hernan Rengifo and Juan Vargas but Cienciano , who had gone ahead with a goal by Roger Serrano, hit back with two late goals from Luis Molina and Jean Ferrari.

Alianza Lima kept the title race alive by winning 2-0 at Estudiantes de Medicina in a bad-tempered match which saw three players and Estudiantes coach Roberto Martinez all sent off.

Martinez, angry over Alianza's first goal which he claimed was offside, was dismissed for dissent while Dario Muchotrigo of Estudiantes and Uruguayan Nelson Oliveira of Alianza were sent off for fighting in the second half. Frank Aguirre of Estudiantes was also shown the red card for violent play.

Luis Romero and Waldir Saenz scored for Alianza to keep them five points behind Sporting Cristal with two matches each to play in the second stage.

Cristal, who could have clinched the title if Alianza had failed to win, beat Deportivo Wanka 2-0. Brazilian Denis and midfielder Jorge Soto scored for Cristal.

Cristal and Alianza both claimed top four places in the first stage. Either will take the title automatically if they win the second.

Colombia

Deportivo Cali, who won the qualifying stage of the championship with 11 points to spare, slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Tolima as the semi-final group stage got under way. Alex Orrogo and Ricardo Silicano scored for Tolima in the group A match.

In the group's other match, striker Hector Hernandez struck in the third minute of injury time as Bucaramanga beat Medellin 1-0.

Julian Vazquez and Edison Mafla gave defending champions America, who have a reputation for winning when it matters, a 2-0 win over Union Magdalena in group B while Atletico Nacional were the only home team who failed to win as they were held 1-1 by Pasto.

Hector Hurtado put Atletico ahead in front of the day's best crowd of 33,000 but Pasto equalized through Pablo Jaramillo.

The weekend's four matches produced five red cards and an average attendance of just over 20,000.

Venezuela

Caracas FC stayed five points clear with three matches left to play in the Apertura, the first stage of the championship, after beating Trujillanos 1-0 with an early goal from Colombian striker Etcheverrie.

The match was watched by a 4,000 crowd, considered respectable in a country where soccer plays second fiddle to baseball.

Carabobo, who beat defending champions Nacional Tachira 2-0, are second.

 

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Reuters contributed to this report.