Ecuador League Roundup

Another week, another five matches in Ecuador’s top flight. As always, a breakdown of those games is after the jump.

LDU Quito easily beat Emelec 3-1 in Ibarra on Friday. Goals from Ecuadorian internationals Edison Mendez, Giovanny Espinoza and Patricio Urrutia were enough to make Cristhian Noboa’s 90th minute strike meaningless. With El Nacional’s second defeat in a row, Liga are now at the top of the table with a five-point cushion. Emelec drop to seventh place.

Aucas staged a come-from-behind 2-1 win over D. Quito on Saturday in the capital. Goals from Gonzalo Chila and Mario Lastra overcame Marcelo Velazco’s early strike. Aucas move into sixth place, while D. Quito drop to fourth.

Espoli got a big away win with a 4-1 dismantling of Macara. Espoli were powered by goals from Mauricio Cabezas (21’), Omar Andrade (48’ and 55’) and Martín Perezlindo (82’). Espoli scoot up to eighth place. Macara have now lost their last two matches by a combined score of 10-1. Not so good, and now they sit in 9th place in the table. Macara fans, what’s going on?

Eduardo Hurtado broke up what seemed like a sure draw in the 82nd minute as Olmedo took three points from Cuenca. The 1-0 win put Olmedo into third place, behind El Nacional only on goal differential. Cuenca…still sit in last. Too bad for Los Colorados that those Ivan Kaviedes rumours were untrue.

Last week, El Nacional lost 0-3 to D. Quito. Mid-week, it beat legendary Argentine club River Plate 2-0. This week, El Nacho lost to Barcelona 0-6. What gives? How can one of the top clubs in Ecuador getting smashed by domestic clubs down the table, but taking it to the best team in Argentina? At any rate, a hat trick from Johnny Baldeon, plus goals from Derlis Florentin, David Garcia, and Elkin Soto saw Barcelona snag the three points. The Kangaroo, El Nacional’s Felix Borja, did not start for some reason, and only came on at the start of the second half. Barcelona slide into fifth place, while El Nacional barely hang onto second on goal differential.