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Defensor Sporting won the second stage of the Uruguayan championship while five players were sent off in Penarol's 3-1 win over Danubio.

Indisciplined army club El Nacional had three players dismissed in a 1-0 defeat to Deportivo Cuenca in Ecuador while Emelec beat Barcelona 1-0 in Guayaquil's Shipyard derby.

URUGUAY

Defensor Sporting beat Juventud 2-1 to win the second stage of the championship.

Defensor's Diego Vera scored with a diving header early on and Pablo Pintos added the second before the half-hour, chesting down Julio Marchant's cross and firing home.

Pintos was sent off in the 77th minute and Cristian Yeladian scored a late consolation for the hosts who were relegated.

Defensor will face Nacional, winners of the first stage, in a three-leg semi-final.

Under the format, the winners of that match will then face the team that finished top of the season's Annual table - the first and second stages combined - in another three-leg tie.

However, as Defensor also finished top of the Annual standings, they will win the title automatically if they beat Nacional.

Sergio Leal gave Danubio an early lead against Penarol but they were reduced to nine men as Diego Ifran and Sergio Rodriguez were sent off either side of halftime.

Penarol had Sergio Rodriguez dismissed in the 66th minute before Ribair Rodriguez (Danubio) and Braian Rodriguez (Penarol) were also sent off for fighting three minutes later.

Antonio Pacheco, the championship's top scorer, levelled with a 74th minute penalty before Richard Nunez scored twice in the last 10 minutes.

ECUADOR

El Nacional finished with eight men after losing their heads in the second half against Deportivo Cuenca.

Edmundo Zura was sent off for punching an opponent in the 51st minute and Pavel Caicedo followed five minutes later for an ugly foul on Edison Preciado. Wellington Sanchez was also red-carded in the 77th minute for a challenge on the same player.

In between, Holger Matamoros scored for Cuenca, who missed a first-half penalty when Rodrigo Teixeira's effort was saved by Cristian Mora.

David Quiroz scored with a majestic strike from outside the area to give Emelec a 1-0 win over arch-rivals Barcelona in Guayaquil, a result which kept the Electrics top of the championship's first stage.

Barcelona, Ecuador's most popular team, were playing their first game under coach Flavio Perlaza after Spaniard Benito Floro stepped down earlier this month.

PARAGUAY

Venezuelan Oswaldo Vizcarrondo scored twice to give Olimpia a 2-1 win over leaders and arch-rivals Cerro Porteno.

Vizcarrondo headed in a corner in the 23rd minute and produced an almost replica effort in the 78th minute, two minutes after Jorge Britez had equalised for Cerro.

With four matches to play in the Apertura championship, Cerro lead by three points from Libertad and Olimpia.

Sportivo Luqueno coach Miguel Zahzu resigned immediately after his team lost 3-0 at Nacional while only 62 people watched Tacuary lose 3-0 at home to Rubio Nu at the Roberto Bettega stadium.

COLOMBIA

Teofilo Gutierrez scored a second-half hat-trick to give Atletico Junior a 3-0 win over Cucuta in the Apertura championship's play off stage.

Gutierrez converted a penalty six minutes after the re-start, turned in Carlos Ruiz's pass for the second in the 69th and scored with a long-range shot eight minutes later. Gutierrez, the championship's topscorer, took his tally to 12.

The result left Junior, Cucuta, Deportivo Cali and Envigado all level on five points from four games in Group B.

Once Caldas went top of Group A with a 2-0 win over Deportes Tolima.

CHILE

Two of the three quarter-final first legs produced draws as Everton drew 2-2 at Municipal Iquique and Union Espanola held O'Higgins 1-1.

Universidad de Chile beat Audax Italiano 4-1 while Universidad Catolica's match with Santiago Morning was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.

BOLIVIA

The Strongest were held to a goalless draw at home by Real Potosi on the debut of coach Sandro Coelho, who replaced Julio Toresani. The visitors had Ronald Eguino sent off in the 31st minute for a second booking.

Oriente Petrolero went top of the Apertura championship with a 5-1 win at Nacional Potosi, whose coach Victor Hugo Andrada quit after the game.

NIGERIA

The captain of Bayelsa United was killed by armed robbers hours after he helped his team win Nigeria's Premier League.

Abiel Tabor, 24, was shot late on Sunday near the town of Oleh, in southern Nigeria's Delta state, when he tried to drive away from the gunmen.

Tabor was travelling with his younger brother and two others to visit his family after Bayelsa clinched the title with a 2-2 draw against Warri Wolves.

"We were told he was (killed) by the armed robbers close to Warri," said Bayelsa's assistant chairman Ebi Ayah.

Violent crime has surged in the Niger Delta since militants, who say they are fighting for a fairer share of the region's natural resources, launched a campaign of sabotage against the oil industry three years ago.

Criminal gangs have taken advantage of the breakdown in law and order, carrying out kidnappings for ransom, armed robberies and vehicle hijackings which have left the region's residents living in a state of permanent insecurity.

Reuters