The last unbeaten club in Central America is no more as Costa Rica’s Alajuelense suffered its first loss of the campaign, falling at home to mid-table San Carlos, leaving Mexico’s Monterrey as the only remaining unbeaten club in current league play throughout CONCACAF.
The loss by Alajuelense was the only upset in Costa Rica while there was upheaval in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama this week. New leaders moved to the top of the table in each of the leagues with the exclusion of Guatemala, where the parity only increased with the mid-table clubs getting more positive results in comparison to those at the top.
COSTA RICA
It was quite the eventful week as league leader Alajuelense suffered its first loss of the campaign, falling surprisingly at home to San Carlos, 1-0, in its second consecutive game without scoring. Barrio Mexico, leaders in the other group, were unable to take advantage to pull even in the overall table, playing to a 1-1 draw on the road against 11th-place Perez Zeledon. Barrio Mexico led on a first-half goal, but a send-off five minutes into the second half allowed the hosts to score six minutes later. The match that raised eyebrows though was Puntarenas visiting Limon. The 4-1 affair in favor of the hosts featured four penalty kicks with Limon’s Kurt Bernard picking up a hat-trick entirely from the spot. Meanwhile, Saprissa’s stuggles continued, falling to Cartagines, second in the group, at home, 2-1, days after a positive 2-2 draw at home against Mexico’s Monterrey in the Champions League.
Sunday, October 3
Perez Zeledon 1-1 Barrio Mexico
Scoring – PZ: Daniel Arce 56… BM: Jorge Barbosa 17
Alajuelense 0-1 San Carlos
Scoring – SC: Kenny Cunningham 18
Santos de Guapiles 2-0 Universidad de Costa Rica
Scoring – SG: Daniel Colindres 9, Andrey Gonzalez 89
Herediano 1-1 Brujas
Scoring – HER: Victor Nunez 5… BRU: Jorge Arias 86
Limon 4-1 Puntarenas
Scoring – LIM: Kurt Bernard pen 29, pen 81, pen 86, Dave Myrie 76… PUN: Rafael Rodriguez pen 37
Deportivo Saprissa 1-2 Cartagines
Scoring – SAP: Jairo Arrieta 25… CAR: Randall Brenes pen 38, 45
EL SALVADOR
Things were turned upside down in the Primera Division as the top two clubs Isidro Metapan and Firpo were both defeated, allowing Alianza and Aguila to move into a three-way tie with Metapan at the top. Metapan fell on the road, 3-0, to Atletico Balboa, which was led by a Cristian Bautista brace. Firpo also lost away from home in a 5-0 drubbing by Alianza, which got a pair of goals from Willer Souza and Rodolfo Zelaya in the first nine minutes. Both added another in the second half as Alianza ran away with the match. Aguila were narrow 1-0 winners at home versus Once Municipal as Sunday’s action saw all four home teams win by an aggregate shutout score of 10-0 while Saturday’s lone fixtured featured a 2-2 draw between host Universidad de El Salvador and last-place Atletico Marte.
Saturday, October 2
Universidad de El Salvador 2-2 Atletico Marte
Scoring – UES: Ramiro Carballo 27, Oscar Navarro 63… AM: Jose Garcia 48, Glauber Da Silva 57
Sunday, October 3
Atletico Balboa 3-0 Isidro Metapan
Scoring – AB: Cristian Bautista 20, 57, Juan Campos 59
FAS 1-0 Vista Hermosa
Scoring – FAS: Alejandro Bentos 68
Aguila 1-0 Once Municipal
Scoring – AGU: Nelson Reyes 47
Alianza 5-0 Firpo
Scoring – ALI: Willer Souza 5, 47, Rodolfo Zelaya 9, 56, Jose Oliveira 77
GUATEMALA
Parity continued with league leaders Municipal and Juventud Retalteca each losing on the road and three matches featuring mid-table clubs all finished level. The gap between first and second remained the same, but with Marguense posting the win over Municipal, they join Juventud Retalteca, 2-1 losers on the road to last-place Universidad San Carlos, in second, where they sit only four points ahead of 10th. USC posted the surprising win, coming from behind in the final 15 minutes on a pair of goals from former MLS player Andy Herron.
Saturday, October 2
Comunicaciones 1-1 Xelaju
Scoring – COM: Rolando Fonseca pen 65… XEL: Edgar Cotto 75
Sunday, October 3
Marquense 1-0 Municipal
Scoring – MAR: Joaquin Alvarez 16
Mictlan 2-0 Heredia
Scoring – MIC: Carlos Asprilla 47, Allan Lemus 80
Suchitepequez 0-0 Malacateco
Penarol La Mesilla 0-0 Xinabajul
Universidad San Carlos 2-1 Juventud Retalteca
Scoring – USC: Andy Herron 74, 79… JR: Igor de Souza 67
HONDURAS
The Liga Nacional was another league with parity, which only increased this week with the results from two rounds worth of action played in the span of five days due to the midweek insert of matches postponed the previous week. The top four clubs in the table by the close of action Sunday were 3-1-4 for the week as the clubs in the next four spots were 3-2-0, creating a log-jam in which the top eight clubs are separated by only five points. And ninth-place Motagua is also only seven points back of leader Real Espana, which picked up four points on the week to move into first. Previous leader Platense suffered two defeats, falling to second place Necaxa, 2-1, on Wednesday and at home Sunday to new leader Real Espana by the same score. With games still to make up, CCL clubs Marathon and Olimpia each won, erasing some of their deficit.
Wednesday, September 29
Necaxa 2-1 Platense
Scoring – NEC: Ruben Licona 54, 84… PLA: Elroy Kuylen 18
Real Espana 3-3 Deportes Savio
Scoring – RE: Maynor Martinez 9, Mario Martinez 23, Douglas Caetano 60… DS: Elroy Smith 53, Francisco Lopez 65, Edilson Pereira 68
Victoria 2-1 Motagua
Scoring – VIC: Saul Martinez 1, Victor Mena 43… MOT: George Welcome 38
Saturday, October 2
Vida 4-2 Hispano
Scoring – VID: Jerry Bengtson 30, 91+, Francisco Pavon 67, Mario Chavez 89… HIS: Lester Macias 45, Raul Morales 69
Sunday, October 3
Motagua 2-2 Deportes Savio
Scoring – MOT: Jorge Claros 43, 86… DS: Carlos Solorzano 10, Ney Costa 66
Marathon 5-1 Victoria
Scoring – MAR: Rony Flores 6, 65, Carlos Will 15, Mario Berrios 66, Randy Diamond 77… VIC: Saul Martinez 8
Necaxa 0-2 Olimpia
Scoring – OLI: Ramiro Bruschi 4, Danilo Turcios 27
Platense 1-2 Real Espana
Scoring – PLA: Christian Pereyra 20… RE: Eder Delgado 22, Sergio Bica 35
PANAMA
Four clubs within the top half of the table squared off against one another this week in Panama, resulting in some switches in the order. Leader San Francisco rallied from a goal down and a man short to salvage a 90th-minute 1-1 draw with second-place Chorrillo, who were two points back, allowing third-place Sporting San Miguelito to use a 3-1 road win over last-place Atletico Veraguense to move to the top of the table by a point. Fourth and fifth switched places with Tauro defeating CCL club Arabe Unido, 3-1. While five points separates the top five now, a four-point margin has now appeared between fifth and sixth as the top half of the table is beginning to pull away. Plaza Amador, however, is tied for sixth and is unbeaten in the past three outings.
Friday, October 1
Atletico Veraguense 1-3 Sporting San Miguelito
Scoring – AV: Marcos Aparicio pen 85… SSM: Alberto Zapata 6, 33, Ricardo Harper 75
Plaza Amador 2-1 Atletico Chiriqui
Scoring – PA: Ricardo Buitrago pen 43, Raul Moreno 85… AC: Gabriel Avila 33
Saturday, October 2
Chepo 0-2 Alianza
Scoring – ALI: Cesar Medina 87, Eduameth Nimbley 89
Sunday, October 3
Chorrillo 1-1 San Francisco
Scoring – CHO: Alberto Blanco 59… SF: Boris Alfaro 90
Tauro 3-1 Arabe Unido
Scoring – TAU: Eduardo Dasent 30, Luis Renteria 37, Marcos Sanchez 69… AU: Own goal 4
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