Independiente Jose Teran lost at home to Deportivo Cuenca yesterday to damage their championship hopes and hand the ascendancy to Barcelona. The Guayaquil giants have been relentlessly pursuing Independiente for several weeks without taking 1st spot but their 3 -0 win combined with Independiente’s loss awarded them 1st position.
While Independiente benefited from a late winner last week they had to suffer the same punishment against Cuenca who prolonged their excellent away win record courtesy of a Walter Chalá strike in the 83rd minute. It was tough luck for the Sangolqui side as they had enjoyed the bulk of possession but failed to capitalise on their dominance.
Results for week 21
OLMEDO 2 – 0 LIGA DE QUITO
BARCELONA 3 – 0 TEC.UNIVERSITARIO
MACARA 0 –2 EMELEC
MANTA FC 1 – 2 DEPORTIVO QUITO
INDEPENDIENTE 1 – 2 DEPORTIVO CUENCA
EL NACIONAL 1 – 3 LIGA DE LOJA
Liga de Loja continued their surprise championship challenge by hammering El Nacional in the Atahaulpa. Brazilian striker, Renato was in sparkling form and grabbed a 2nd half hat-trick for Los Albos del Sur (The Whites of the South) to move his team into 2nd position.
In the face of continued criticism and talk of drinking problems within the squad Liga de Quito did nothing to deter their detractors by collapsing away to bottom place, Olmedo. The 2- 0 defeat (Jacob Murillo and Hugo Prieto scoring) drops Liga into 6th position, 7 points behind Barcelona.
Current champions Deportivo Quito breathed life into a faltering campaign by defeating Manta 2-1 which in turn boosts their position to 6th. Deportivo will face Leon Huanuco (PERU) in the coming Copa Sudamerica and have to recapture last year’s form if they want to ensure International competition.
Upon reaching the end of this term’s fixtures the league will start again in a double round-robin format and continue till December. The winners of each stage term will play off to become champion with the rest vying for Copa Libertadores and Sudamerican spots. As it stands the top 3 teams will qualify for the Sudamericana (along with Deportivo Quito) while the first term champions will qualify for the Copa Libertadores.
Pos Team Pnt.
1 BARCELONA 38
2 LDU LOJA 37
3 INDEP. JT 36
4 EMELEC 34
5 D.CUENCA 33
6 LDU QUITO 31
7 SDQUITO 28
8 MANTA FC 27
9 NATIONAL 26
10 MACARA 21
11 TECHNICAL U. 18
12 OLMEDO 14
Alistair McLauchlan 
My friend, Mindy, pnetoid me to your site, because she’s heard me talking about our crazy idea of moving to Ecuador for the past year or so, too. My hubby went down in June to check things out. He visited Vilcabamba, Cuenca and Quito. All three places had their pros and cons. We’ve lived overseas (Italy) before, so we’re not too worried about complete culture shock, and I’d be excited for my kids (13, 9 and 5) to get a different perspective of the world. But, life here in suburban Maryland isn’t so bad, either, so such a drastic change is a lot to consider. It’s really exciting to think about, though not sure we’ll get the nerve to actually do it you first!