A whistle stop tour of all the weekend's football action from around the globe.

NETHERLANDS

Heerenveen brushed AZ Alkmaar aside with a 4-0 victory that took them up to fifth place in the Eredivisie.

Danijel Pranjic opened the scoring with a penalty after two minutes before goals from Jakob Poulsen and Miralem Sulejmani settled the match.

Michael Bradley made it 4-0 when he headed home a cross from Poulsen 10 minutes into the second half.

Heerenveen move up two places to fifth with 34 points, while Alkmaar slip to 11th on 28.

Utrecht struck three goals in seven first-half minutes, Robin Nelisse scoring twice and Gregoor van Dijk adding another, to secure a 3-1 win over Roda JC Kerkrade.

Andres Oper pulled one back for the visitors after the break before they had Marcel Meeuwis sent off with five minutes left of the mid-table clash.

An own goal by Thomas Baelum just after halftime handed NAC Breda a 1-0 win over struggling neighbours Willem II Tilburg.

Remco van der Schaaf and Santi Kolk were on target for Vitesse Arnhem in a 2-0 home win over lowly Heracles Almelo.

PSV Eindhoven and Ajax were held to 1-1 draws away to lowly opposition.

PSV, held by 10-man VVV Venlo, remain top with 40 points after 19 matches, three points above Ajax, who drew at NEC Nijmegen.

Feyenoord, beaten 2-1 at neighbours Excelsior Rotterdam on Friday, are a point further back in third.

Rachid Ofrany opened the scoring for VVV in the second minute with a superb lob but 10 minutes later Balazs Dzsudzsak equalised at close range from Jefferson Farfan's pass.

VVV, who have also drawn at home against Ajax and Feyenoord, were reduced to 10 men after 32 minutes following a second booking for full back Peter Reekers.

Jeremain Lens opened the scoring for NEC but Klaas-Jan Huntelaar equalised with 16 minutes remaining to salvage a point for Ajax.

Blaise N'Kufo scored twice as Twente Enschede moved up to fourth on 36 points from 20 matches with a 3-1 victory over Groningen, who slipped to fifth on goal difference.

N'Kufo opened the scoring after 29 minutes and Goran Lovre equalised early in the second half after a defence splitting combination through the centre with Marcus Berg.

Stein Huysegems restored Twente's lead in the 53rd and four minutes from time N'Kufo sealed the win from close range with a ball from Jeroen Heubach.

Sparta Rotterdam, who started the day in bottom place, thrashed Graafschap Doetinchem 6-1, with Charles Dissels twice on target, to climb to 15th with 15 points.

GREECE

Olympiacos kept up the pressure on city rivals and league leaders AEK Athens with a 1-0 win at OFI Crete thanks to a goal from Lionel Nunez.

The win took Olympiacos to 38 points from 17 games, just a point behind AEK, who beat Atromitos Athinon.

Third-placed Panathinaikos stayed within a point of Olympiacos after securing a 1-0 win over Ergotelis, with Dimitris Salpigidis scoring from a free-kick just before half time.

Elsewhere, Iraklis were 1-0 winners over PAOK in a match marred by clashes between rival supporters beforehand.

Two Iraklis fans were stabbed and local police said around 150 fans from the two Thessaloniki clubs were involved in the violence.

Dimitris Giantsis' 12th minute goal sealed the points for Iraklis against a PAOK side who finished the match with nine men after Ruud Knol and Sotiris Balafas were both red-carded in the second half.

Larissa, meanwhile, had three men sent off in their 1-0 defeat by Veria - who were also shown a red card.

Ivory Coast striker Ibrahima Bakayoko was the first to go in the 23rd minute when he was given a straight red for hitting Veria's Georgos Koltzos off the ball.

With Veria taking the lead in the 65th minute through Gambia striker Mustapha Kamal N'Daw, things turned nasty in the last minute of the game.

Veria's Nikos Tsiblidis and Larissa's Nikolaos Dabizas were sent off for tangling with each other and Larissa ended the game with just eight on the field as Panagiotis Bachramis was also sent off.

MEXICO

Toluca shook off the cobwebs on the opening weekend of the Mexican Clausura championship to clinch a narrow 2-1 win against Atlas.

Edgar Duenas headed Toluca in front and Sergio Ponce extended the lead with a powerful drive on 58 minutes.

The Red Devils, who are managed by Argentina's 2006 World Cup coach Jose Pekerman, did not dominate the play and Jorge Achucarro's spectacular long-range goal was modest compensation for a hard-working Atlas team.

Argentine coach Miguel Angel Brindisi was overseeing his first Mexican league game since taking charge of Atlas.

Guadalajara also enjoyed a bright start in the Clausura, coasting to a 3-0 win over the Pumas UNAM.

Mexico's most popular team were fired up after a pre-match ceremony to honour the club's record goalscorer, 71-year-old Salvador Reyes.

Yet another Argentine coach, Moneterrey's Ricardo La Volpe, saw his team earn a point with a 1-1 draw at Necaxa.

La Volpe was making his return to the local scene for the first time since 2006, when he ended a four-year stint as Mexican national coach.

A goal by Juan Carlos Cacho was enough to give Pachuca a win over UAG Tecos.

BRAZIL

Corinthians slumped to a 3-1 state championship defeat at Sao Caetano, with new coach Mano Menezes left to size up the task of restoring the struggling giant to the Brazilian top flight.

The arrival of Menezes, who led Gremio to the final of the South American Libertadores Cup last year, has raised hopes of a revival following relegation to the second division in December.

Sao Caetano exposed a poorly integrated Corinthians line-up with two goals resulting from elementary defensive errors that permitted Fabio Luis and Luan to canter through the rearguard to score.

Corinthians' new signing Uruguayan Alberto Acosta gifted Sao Caetano another goal with a glancing header into his own net.

Corinthians, who beat Guarani in their opening match, improved as the game progressed. Striker Bruno Octavio had two long-range shots spectacularly saved and substitute Dentinho reduced the deficit with a close-range header.

The defeat was all the more disappointing for Corinthians as it came against a fellow second division team.

Corinthians is one of Brazil's best-supported clubs - and won the national title in 2005 - but has suffered a rapid decline after a controversial partnership with the London-based Media Sports Investments turned sour.

"We had some difficulty adapting as a unit, but we reorganised ourselves and showed that there is considerable room for improvement," Menezes said.

Sao Paulo collected a second successive win in the state tournament, edging out Rio Preto with a late goal by Souza.

On-loan striker Adriano was unable to reproduce the clinical finishing that gave him two goals in Sao Paulo's opening state championship encounter on Thursday.

Santos and Palmeiras drew goalless on coach Wanderlei Luxemburgo's return to his former employers after swapping Santos for Palmeiras during the close season.

The Rio de Janeiro state championship also got underway, with wins for Flamengo, Botafogo and Fluminense.

Vasco da Gama lost 2-1 at home to Madureira and were coached by Alfredo Sampaio as Romario's official debut as player-coach was put on ice.

The former Brazil international is serving a 120-day ban after testing positive for the banned masking agent finasteride following a state championship match in October.

Romario has been taking charge of Vasco's training sessions but watched from the stands on Sunday.

He has blamed the doping incident on a hair-loss product and his appeal is due to be heard later this month.

Reuters