Argentina and Uruguay suffer weather delays, more South America news

Rain and thunderstorms prevented a lot of soccer from being played in Argentina and Uruguay. Read about that and more weekend news from South America.

This weekend, inclement weather prevented action from happening in two of South America’s preeminent leagues. But there was still plenty of action that took place across the continent, as there were huge rivalries in play and the chance to see a switch of leaders in several leagues.

Let’s look at some of the biggest stories in South America this weekend, starting with climatic cancellations and postponements due to precipitation and how they impacted the two leagues affected.

The impact of weather delays in Argentina and Uruguay

Eleven matches throughout Argentina and Uruguay were canceled over the weekend due to a confluence of weather alerts on both sides of the Rio de la Plata. Throughout the Primera in Uruguay, matches were canceled and postponed wholesale as the Instituto Uruguayo de Meteorologia alerted the country of heavy rains and thunderstorms over the weekend.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Rio de la Plata three matches took a rain check in Argentina without any idea when they will yet be rescheduled. San Lorenzo’s match against Atletico Tucuman, Rosario Central’s showdown versus San Martin, and the tilt between Estudiantes La Plata and Newell’s Old Boys were all delayed due to the weather.

While nothing changed in the Uruguayan table, seven matches still did take place throughout Argentina. With Atletico Tucuman sidelined by the weather, Racing Club was able to open up a five-point lead at the top of the Superliga table. Meanwhile, River Plate and Boca Juniors both earned multi-goal victories to jump up into the top five of the table.

It remains to be seen when the matches that were suspended over the weekend will be made up. For now, a half-dozen clubs in Argentina have a game in hand while Uruguay might just end up losing a matchday after the impact of the weather on soccer in the Southern Cone.

Superclasico Paraguayo goes off as scheduled

Meanwhile, further inland soccer action was able to go off throughout Paraguay without a hitch. That meant that the Superclásico Paraguayo between Olimpia and Nacional transpired at Estadio Manuel Ferreira in Asunción.

Through the first half of the match, the two rivals played a chippy affair in the derby. Olimpia’s Ivan Arturo Torres earned the first yellow card of the day, but a trio of Nacional players went in the books right before halftime on a series of hard fouls. Within the first 15 minutes of the second half, two other Nacional players saw yellow as well.

The last of that quintet, to Gustavo Velazquez, earned Olimpia a yellow card right before the hour mark. William Mendieta coolly potted the penalty kick to put the hosts up by a goal. A dozen minutes later, Jorge Ortega added an insurance goal for Olimpia as they ensured they would claim all three points in the 2-0 victory over their rivals.

With the win, Olimpia stayed a point ahead of a Cerro Porteno side that also booked a 2-0 victory over the weekend. The continue to set up on a collision course for their Nov. 4 showdown to determine which club walks away with the Clausura this year.

Palmeiras takes over Brazil Serie A lead ahead of Sao Paulo clash

Entering the 27th matchday of the 38-match Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A, Sao Paulo were still up by a point in the table ahead of Palmeiras and Internacional. The Tricolor  sat on 51 points through 26 matches, Palmeiras and Internacional on 50 points each, as they headed into their respective contests over the weekend.

Internacional took care of business at home against Vitoria, winning 2-1 despite spotting the visitors a second-minute own goal by Emerson Santos. Leandro Damiao leveled things up just after the hour, beating Vitoria goalkeeper Ronaldo in the 63rd minute. The visitors looked on track to steal a point away from Internacional, but then they gave up a foul inside the box. Andres D’Alessandro stepped up and potted the winner behind Ronaldo to steal all three points for the hosts.

Palmeiras won a 3-1 thriller at home against Cruzeiro. Lucas Lima scored the opener in the 23rd minute, but Gustavo Gomez gave up a penalty eight minutes later that Federico Mancuello converted to level things back up at one apiece. Hyoran put Palmeiras back up right before the intermission, and Gomez made up for his gaffe in the first half by converting his own penalty goal for a buffer in the 66th minute.

That left Sao Paulo to answer their challengers. Against Botafogo, the two sides split four goals in a 2-2 draw. Defensive midfielder Jean put Botafogo up just five minutes into the match. Diego Souza answered for the visitors three minutes later, but Kieza scored again for Botafogo in the 25th minute to ensure the hosts would be up 2-1 at the intermission. Sao Paulo clawed back another equalizer after the break, as Gonzalo Carneiro found the back of the net behind Saulo.

But, unable to find a third goal, Sao Paulo had to settle for one point from the draw. That left Palmeiras and Internacional both passing the leaders in the Serie A table. Thanks to a superior goal differential, Palmeiras took over the top spot just in time for next week’s battle against Sao Paulo in a top-of-the-table clash.