Ecuador League Roundup

Not many close results from Ecuador this weekend, headlined by Emelec’s 6-0 destruction of Macara on Sunday. All of the games after the jump.

Deportivo Quito surprised El Nacional by cruising to a 3-0 win at the Atahualpa. Goals by Estuardo Quiñónez (‘38 ), Luis Saritama (’46 ) and Néstor Salazar (’86 ) sent all three points to D. Quito in this capital city derby. Saritama, who readers of this blog know as the Roadrunner, is trying to cement a starting lineup spot as an attacking midfielder for the national team this summer. El Nacional give up the table lead, with D. Quito just two points back in third.

Espoli enjoyed a convincing 3-0 home win over Olmedo on Saturday. The match was all zeros coming out of halftime, but a brace from Omar Andrade put the game out of reach. A last minute goal from Leonardo Garcia added insult to injury time. Espoli still sit ninth in the table, while Olmedo slipped from third to fourth.

Barcelona’s five-match winning streak came to a halt on Sunday in Cuenca in the league’s only one-goal game. Carlos Quinonez’s goal just before halftime was enough to let Barcelona slip from fifth to sixth place, while Cuenca remains at the foot of the table.

LDU Quito got a 2-0 away win against Aucas on Sunday behind two back-to-back goals from Enrique Vera (’27) and Ariel Graziani (’28). The win puts LDU Quito back into first place, two points ahead of El Nacional, although they are four behind in goal differential should that become an issue later in the season. Aucas drop from sixth to seventh after being leapfrogged by Emelec.

Speaking of Emelec, on Sunday the electricos were all over Macara, eventually stopping the bleeding after the score reached 6-0. After regaining the four points originally deducted from using an ineligible player, Emelec now sit in fifth place in the table, level on points with their cross-town rivals Barcelona, but well ahead of the toreros on goal differential.

Okay readers (including all of the Emelec hinchas who read this site!), what do you think of the table at this point in the season? Can the middle-of-the-pack teams like Emelec and Barcelona catch the teams at the top of the table? What potential national team players have the most to prove as the season progresses?