Costa Rican international Andy Herron (2004-06, 2008) scored two goals in as many games this
week as Universidad de San Carlos closed out the Guatemalan Apertura season
with a draw and a win.
Herron earned San Carlos a valuable point with his 79th
minute equalizer last Wednesday vs. Malacateco before scoring what would stand
as the winner in USAC’s 3-2 victory at Juventud Retalteca on Sunday.
Though finishing 10th in the 12 team table, the
results extended San Carlos’ unbeaten run to nine matches, dating back to October 24. The side
finished with a 7-9-6 overall record and 27 points, while Herron finished the
season with 13 goals, finishing one behind former LA Galaxy and current CSD
Municipal midfielder Guillermo Ramirez.
Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Irapuato looked set to advance to this week’s Liga de Ascenso final after taking a 2-0 win from Wednesday’s semifinal home leg against his former club Veracruz.
In Sunday’s away leg Veracruz got an early 8th
minute goal from Alejandro Leyva but Irapuato sustained the pressure and
equalized after the half through Luis Valdes in the 57th minute.
The home side responded with two goals from Francisco Bravo
(69th minute) and former Chivas USA striker Juan Pablo Garcia (73rd)
to bring the game to 3-1 and the aggregate score line to 3-3.
Despite Irapuato having the away goal, in Mexico, the higher
seed from the regular season advances in the case of an aggregate draw in the
playoffs… Cruel enough but Veracruz finished level on points with Irapuato and
received the higher seed by virtue of a +7 goal differential (Irapuato was +1).
Veracruz moves on to the final to take on regular season
champions Tijuana this Tuesday and Friday.
Blanco has appeared in 20 matches scoring three goals since
joining Irapuato in July.
Carlos Bocanegra and Ligue 1 side Saint Etienne earned another point but extended their league winless streak to seven matches with a 1-1 draw at Nancy on Saturday.
Like many games this year, Bocanegra was the only
non-Frenchman in les Verts starting
eleven, playing 90 minutes on the back line in his 10th appearance
for the club.
Having been top of the table in October, Saint Etienne
haven’t tasted a league victory since a 1-0 win vs. Olympique Lyon on September
25. They currently sit 12th in the table with 20 points (5-4-5
record), just five back of league-leaders Olympique Marseille in the tight
Ligue 1 table.
Saint Etienne will visit 14th place Valenciennes
Wednesday before hosting sixth-place Bordeaux on Sunday.
Tomasz Frankowski came on in the 41st minute but couldn’t help Jagiellonia Bialystok score as the Polish table toppers drew 0-0 at Ruch Chorzow on Sunday.
Despite failing to score since October 16, the 36-year-old
striker remains tied with Korona Kielce’s Andrzej Niedzielan with eight goals
in 14 appearances this season.
Jagiellonia sit top of the Polish Ekstraklasa table with 30
points (9-3-3 record). They’ll next host ninth-place Slask Wroclaw this Friday.
Damarcus Beasley was an 84th minute sub for Sofian Chahed in Hannover’s 3-0 win over Freiburg on Saturday. It’s the club’s third-straight win and the first time the side has earned three points with Beasley on the field this season.
Hannover move to 8-5-1 and sit fourth in the Bundesliga
table with 25 points, just one back of Bayer Leverkusen.
Beasley and Hannover will visit son of former Fire head
coach Michael Bradley this Saturday as they take on Borussia Monchengladbach.
Dipsy Selolwane went 90 minutes in SuperSport United’s 1-1 draw at Moroka Swallows in South African Premier Soccer League action on Saturday.
The Botswanan international has appeared in all nine of
SuperSport’s matches this season, scoring two goals in that time.
United sits ninth in the 16-team table with 12 points (3-3-3
record) and will next host 11th place Platinum Stars on December 11.
Bakary Soumare played 90 minutes for US Boulogne but the side fell 2-0 at Ajaccio on Friday night.
The defeat was Bolougne’s second straight in the league and
also second of the season as Soumare’s side have earned a 3-2-10 record thus
far. The draws have hurt in the standings though as they sit 12th
with 19 points, eight back of the last promotion place currently held by Sedan.
Boulogne will hope to climb the table when they host league
bottom dwellers Grenoble on Friday.
Jeff Crandall is the Team Writer for the Chicago Fire. Follow him on Twitter @JefeCrandall.
