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Latin American Roundup Cardozo continues scoring streak as Toluca winsPosted: Wednesday December 11, 2002 1:28 PMUpdated: Thursday December 12, 2002 6:00 AM MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Paraguay striker Jose Cardozo scored for the 14th consecutive match as Toluca beat Santos Laguna 5-3 away in the first leg of their Mexican championship semifinal on Wednesday. Cardozo took his tally in the tournament to 33 goals in 23 games as Toluca gave a winning start to Argentine Alberto Jorge, their third coach in less than two months. Toluca changed coaches for the first time when Argentine Ricardo Lavolpe left the club in October after taking charge of the Mexican national team. Lavolpe was replaced by his assistant Wilson Graneolatti but the Uruguayan was enraged last week when Toluca attempted to bring back Lavolpe for the final stages of the championship. Graneolatti resigned after the quarter-final win over Guadalajara on Sunday, saying he wanted to protect his dignity. Santos, who surprisingly knocked out defending champions America in the quarter-finals, went ahead through Mexican international striker Jared Borgetti after 18 minutes. But the game swung on an incident two minutes later when Santos defender Luis Romero was judged to have fouled a Toluca player in the penalty area and was sent off for a second bookable offence. Cardozo converted to level the scores with Santos down to 10 men. Cardozo scored again ten minutes later and Uruguayan Vicente Sanchez added another to give Toluca a 3-1 halftime lead. Santos fought back and were level within ten minutes of the restart with goals by Johan Rodriguez and Hector Altamirano. But the home team received a knockout blow when Toluca scored twice in a minute through Argentine Maximiliano Cuberas and Brazilian Zinha. Morelia host UNAM in the other semi-final tie on Thursday. Coach says Santos' Leo better than Roberto CarlosRIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -- Santos left back Leo is better than Roberto Carlos and central defender Alex is the world's best, Emerson Leao, coach of the Brazilian championship finalists, said on Wednesday. "When I was national team coach, I selected Leo and left out Roberto Carlos," Leao, sacked by Brazil following the Confederations Cup in June 2001, told the Jornal da Tarde in an interview. "Now I repeat: Leo is the better of the two. "I like Roberto Carlos, but Leo has still got room for improvement, he has great potential. I prefer to work with players who have yet to conquer. Leao described 20-year-old Alex as one of the best players to have emerged in Brazil in the last few years. "There's no doubt that he's the best defender in the world," he said. "If you want to make a list of the 10 best defenders, you can start looking for the other nine. Leo, a relative veteran in the Santos team at 27, was given his five international caps by Leao while 20-year-old Alex is still uncapped. Santos have reached the Brazilian championship final with a generation of young players who are rated by many as the best the club has produced since the golden Pele-inspired days of the 1960s. Meanwhile, Leao has resurrected his own career after being sacked by Brazil following an unhappy eight-month stint, culminating with the Confederations Cup in Japan and South Korea. Leao was forced to field a third-string team because of club commitments but was still fired after his team lost to Australia in the third-place playoff. He learned of his sacking at Tokyo airport as he waited for the flight home. He said it was time for Brazil to turn to younger players as well. "For me, 90 percent of the World Cup team is ready for [international] retirement, they won't get to the 2006 cup. Brazil's future is with these boys and I'm not just talking about Santos. Santos are favorites to win their first domestic title since 1984 after their 1-0 win over Corinthians in last Sunday's first leg and Leao said he was surprised by how far they had got. Maradona's doctor arrested on drug chargesBOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A Colombian doctor who gained fame by treating former Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona was arrested Wednesday after police found 2 kilograms (4.41 pounds) of cocaine in his luggage. Hernando Mauricio Vergara was arrested at the Cali airport before boarding a flight to Buenos Aires via Panama. Vergara told police he didn't know how the cocaine got in his computer bag and a camera bag, police Col. Alvaro Caro Melendez said. Vergara recently designed a weight loss program for Maradona, who has come to Cali to see the doctor. Maradona, who has also had drug problems, was banned from soccer for a second time after testing positive for drugs during the 1994 World Cup in the United States. He retired from professional soccer in 1997. In his 20-year career, Maradona won Italian and Argentine league titles and led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986 and second place in 1990. In 2000, FIFA chose Maradona as the game's best ever, alongside Brazilian Pele. Peruvian team hit by strike before relegation playoffLIMA (Reuters) -- Peruvian club Deportivo Wanka have been hit by a players strike on the eve of their relegation play-off against Juan Aurich, local media reported Wednesday. Players refused to travel on Tuesday from the Andean city of Huancayo, where Wanka are based, to Chiclayo for Wednesday night's game, media said. They claimed that were owed one-and-a- half month's wages. But a group of 11 players, mainly reserves, were later reported to have broken the strike and traveled. The president of Peru's Players' Union said that the strike-breakers been under pressure from club directors. "The group couldn't stand up to the threats for the directors," Francesco Manaserro told the Web site Futbolperuano.com. "They were threatening to ban them at federation and Labor Ministry level, so they got scared and traveled." The incident came one week after a similar stoppage ended at Universitario, the country's most successful club. Universitario, who earlier this year were forced to disband the team which won the first stage of the championship, fielded an under-20 team in one game as a result of the week-long strike by their players. Wanka and Juan Aurich finished level on points at the end of the season and will play off over two legs to decide who goes down. Coopsol, who finished bottom of the first division, have already been relegated. The regular championship finished Sunday with Sporting Cristal winning the title. Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. 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