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 1^st spot but their 3 -0 win combined with Independiente’s loss awarded them 1^st 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 83^rd 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 2^nd half hat-trick for Los Albos del Sur (The Whites of the South) to move his team into 2^nd 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 6^th 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