South America Review: River Plate win Superclasico in Argentina

River Plate overtook Boca Juniors with a head-to-head win in the biggest rivalry match in Argentina. Here’s this week’s South America soccer review.

There was an action-packed weekend that changed fortunes for clubs throughout South America. The biggest rivalry match in Argentina ended in a lopsided result favoring the visitors, Brazil’s table got even more compacted at the top and the challenges proliferated across the continent.

Here are the biggest stories from this week’s soccer action from across South America.

Superclasico flips fortunes for River Plate and Boca Juniors

When Boca Juniors and River Plate meet, there’s always bound to be a big story to tell afterward. Sunday’s showdown was no different, as River won 2-0 away at La Bombonera. The win pushed River ahead of their rivals on goal differential, up to fourth in the Superliga table.

For Boca, it was a disappointment of the highest order. Instead of remaining on pace with Atletico Tucuman and Racing Club at the top of the table, they fell back to fifth in the Supercopa. The  Xeneizes generated a greater number of scoring chances but lost to their rival at home in large part because of an early goal that tipped the scales.

It all came about because Boca Juniors struggled to clear the ball out of their own 18-yard box. Emmanuel Mas saw his clearing effort tipped skyward as River’s Exequiel Palacios grazed the pass with his boot. As the ball flew through the air, Gonzalo Martinez tracked the ball expertly and perfectly blasted a left-footed volley cleanly past Boca goalkeeper Agustin Rossi.

Eight minutes later, Martinez was coming out of the game with an injury. The score remained 1-0 at the break, even as Boca Juniors generated a majority of scoring chances. The hosts continued to challenge River Plate, but it was the visitors who came through with a second goal 25 minutes after the break. Rafael Santos Borre laid off a quick pass to Ignacio Scocca for the second goal, giving River insurance that would last until full time.

Meanwhile, Atletico Tucuman went to the top of the table for at least one day, taking down San Martin de San Juan with a 3-1 victory on Sunday. Atletico jumped ahead of Racing Club on an interim basis, with Racing set to face Union on Monday in one of two late matches to conclude this weekend’s Argentine action.

Cerro Porteno consolidates top-two position in Paraguay

The big match in Paraguay this weekend was the showdown between Nacional and Cerro Porteno. At Estadio Defensores del Chaco, the hosts fell 3-0 as defender Diego Daniel Melgarejo Fretes left his feet and took down Marcelino Namandu. That earned Melgarejo a red card in the first minute, making life difficult for Nacional in the showdown with major implications for the Paraguayan Primera table.

Once Melgarejo was knocked out of the game by his gaffe, Cerro Porteno turned up the pressure hoping to find the winner. Through the entire first half, Nacional held on to keep the match scoreless. Coming out of the intermission, Nacional maintained the nil-nil deadlock until Victor Caceres finally broke through with the first goal in the 64th minute.

That opened the floodgates, as Santiago Arzamendia added a goal three minutes later and Diego Churín added another in the 85th minute. With the three-goal win, Cerro Porteno stayed one point behind Olimpia in the Paraguayan standings and drew level on goals for and goals against.

Olimpia and Cerro Porteno play the Paraguayan Superclasico on the first weekend of November, and the winner will likely claim the Clausura this year.

Draws at top of Serie A table open up door for Palmeiras in Brazil

Entering the weekend, Sao Paulo was sitting a point ahead of Internacional and three points ahead of Palmeiras, who has been charging up the Brazilian table over the past several months. They haven’t lost in league play since late July against Fluminense, and the surge is really beginning to pay off full force.

Over the weekend, Sao Paulo drew 1-1 against America, who were visiting from Minas Gerais. Internacional drew 1-1 as well against visiting Corinthians. That created the opening for Palmeiras to climb up the table to turn the Serie A battle into a three-club race.

Palmeiras had to wait until the 81st minute on Sunday, but they managed to claim all three points against Sport Recife on the road. Willian struck the winner, and with the result they moved up to second in the table. Thanks to a superior goal differential, Palmeiras leapfrogged over Internacional to sit only a point behind metropolitan rival São Paulo.