South America review: Soccer starts 2019 season in Venezuela, Colombia

Despite political turmoil, the Primera season started up in Venezuela this weekend. This and more is covered in the latest South America soccer review.

Without getting too deep into the political intrigue currently transpiring in Venezuela, it’s notable that the Primera was able to open the Apertura season over the last weekend of January. Not everyone was able to play, as the match between Carabobo and Atletico Venezuela in Guanare was postponed until a later date. But otherwise there were 16 teams that managed to take the pitch on Saturday and Sunday across Venezuela.

The season also commenced in Colombia as South America continues to reawaken in the new year after the conclusion of Clausura campaigns and holiday breaks. Action continued in Argentina and Paraguay, while state championships continued to roll out across Brazil. Let’s look at a couple of the biggest stories from across South America in this week’s soccer review from the continent.

Play begins in Venezuela despite political unrest

With a power play for the presidency ongoing between Nicolas Maduro and Juan Guaido in the beleaguered country, the Apertura commenced over the weekend in Venezuela. The big result of the weekend was the 5-0 drubbing of LALA by visiting Mineros de Guayana on Saturday. The away side emphatically claimed the three points as five different players scored in the victory.

Jose Luis Granados opened the scoring in the 14th minute, Miguel Camargo added a second goal in the 36th minute and Charlis Ortiz scored in first-half stoppage time to put Mineros de Guayana up 3-0 at the intermission. Wilson Cuero and Richard Jose Blanco scored in the final 15 minutes to put Mineros atop the table with a huge lead on goal differential.

For a club that are only 38 years old and who finished third last season, it was an eye-opening start to the season. Mineros sit two goals ahead of Zamora FC on goal differential, after the latter took down Zulia 4-1 on Sunday evening in Barinas.

Zamora’s Mayker Gonzalez opened the scoring in the 18th minute, but the action really heated up in the second half. Though they lost the clean sheet in the 83rd minute on a Gabriel Benitez goal for visiting Zulia, Zamora ensured their spot in second.

Llaneros de Guarane hosts Estudiantes Merida in the final match of the opening weekend on Monday, with the postponed fixture between Carabobo and Atletico Venezuela yet to be rescheduled.

The northwest also saw league play restart in Colombia

To the west of Venezuela in neighboring Colombia, the big surprise was Cucuta Deportivo jumping right to the top of the table after their 3-0 opener against Rionegro Aguilas. Last season’s Primera B champions, freshly promoted to the top division, wasted no time taking over the top spot in the standings.

Luis Miranda opened the scoring in the 18th minute, putting Cucuta up 1-0 at the break. Then Jhonatan Agudelo scored two quick goals in the 52nd and 57th minute to lift the hosts to the top of the Colombian Apertura. It was a no-nonsense display as Cucuta put eight shots on target to just three for Rionegro.

Deportivo Cali and La Equidad both enjoyed 2-0 wins, over Atletico Bucaramanga and Atletico Huila respectively, to take the spots immediately behind Cucuta in the standings. La Equidad got their win at home on Saturday, with Carlos Peralta and Neider Barona scoring in the first half to lock up three points over visiting Huila.

Deportivo Cali secured their win over Bucaramanga later on Saturday evening thanks to a brace from Argentine striker Juan Ignacio Dinenno. The well-traveled 24-year-old Dinenno, a Rosario-born talent on loan from Racing Club de Avellaneda, was plying his trade in Ecuador last year for Barcelona SC. He beat James Aguirre for the opening goal right before halftime, then notched his second on a penalty kick late in the second half.

The early leaders will take on Santa Fe on the road on Wednesday, before following with a third fixture in nine days at home against Envigado. Both Deportivo Cali and La Equidad will hope for a slip by the leaders and a chance to take over the lead. Deportivo travel to face Jaguares de Cordoba in midweek and return home for Atletico Huila next weekend, while La Equidad get a pair of road dates against Independiente Medellin and Union Magdalena.

Apertura race tightens up early on the second matchday in Paraguay

Entering the second weekend of play in Paraguay’s new Apertura season, there were opportunities for clubs to really take charge at the top of the table. Instead, teams that won in the first week of play fell over the second matchday, and Deportivo Capiata were able to take over the early lead in the Apertura race despite a 0-0 draw against Deportivo Santani in the opening match.

Capiata went top of the league on Saturday with a 3-2 victory against league leaders Sol de America despite going a man down in the 50th minute when Jorge Rodrigo Paredes received a red card. At that point the hosts were tied up 2-2 against Sol de America, and it looked like a point would be the best they could hope to gain at home. Instead, Edsson Riveros managed to steal all three points when he beat Ruben Escobar for the winning goal in the 83rd minute.

Libertad, who lost to Sol de America a week earlier, knocked off Cerro Porteno on Sunday. The Guarani side that lost to Cerro Porteno to open the season turned around and dealt Nacional a 2-0 loss. Sportivo San Lorenzo fell 2-0 at Olimpia. And even with two matches taking place on Monday, none of the four clubs can overtake Capiata in the Paraguayan table.

Next week the leaders get a big test against Cerro Porteno as things heat up in league action in Paraguay. A win over last year’s Clausura runner-up would put Capiata in position to make a serious run at their first top-flight title in what is just their 12th season of existence.

Racing Club stay firmly atop Superliga Argentina

A long break did nothing to the form of Superliga Argentina leader Racing Club, one of the traditional big five clubs in the country located just across the Riachuelo from Buenos Aires in the southern suburb of Avellaneda. With a 3-1 knockdown of Aldosivi on the road, Racing stayed three points ahead of Defensa y Justicia in the Superliga standings.

Augusto Solari opened up the scoring just four minutes into the match, beating Aldosivi goalkeeper Luciano Pocrnjic for the first goal of the match. Cristian Gabriel Chavez responded with an equalizer in the 27th minute, and the two sides were deadlocked at 1-1 at halftime. But a Lisandro Lopez penalty conversion in the 54th minute proved the game winner, and Dario Cvitanich added an insurance goal in second-half stoppage time for the two-goal win.

Defensa y Justicia kept pace with a 1-0 win over San Lorenzo thanks to a 92nd-minute goal from Fernando Andres Marquez. And Atletico Tucuman kept their position in third place with a 4-1 downing of Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata. Fabio Alvarez, Leandro Diaz, Yonathan Cabral and Mauro Matos all scored in the three-goal victory.

Another ongoing story is the continued struggle of current Copa Libertadores champion River Plate in domestic play. After losing 2-1 at home to Union de Santa Fe on Wednesday, River Plate fell again on Sunday at El Monumental in a 3-1 defeat to Patronato.

It marked the third straight loss of the new year for River as they fail to gain points as they make up games in hand from their Libertadores run. Now sitting 20 points adrift of Racing with only two matches in hand, it is going to take a herculean effort for River Plate to have any chance to contend for the Superliga title in 2019.

Stay tuned for more South America soccer news next Monday as we take a look at news from across the continent every week.