Spanning the Globe: Weekend Wrap-Up

By: Bob | February 26th, 2007

We’re moving into the fun part of the year with the races in leagues around the world heating up and tightening up. There was some excellent action this past weekend and undoubtedly you couldn’t follow it all. Here is a brief and random selection of what went down in some of the leagues.

Spain – Samuel Eto’o woke up this weekend and decided it was time to return from his leg injury. He looked completely healed, scoring Barcelona’s third goal in their 3-0 win against struggling Athletic Bilbao. The win puts Barca two points clear of Sevilla, who were held to a 0-0 draw at Getafe. Valencia couldn’t take advantage of things and were held 1-1 by basement dwellers Gimnastic Tarragona. The Madrid Derby ended in a 1-1 draw with Argentine wunderkind Gonzalo Higuain scoring his first goal for Real Madrid and Fernando Torres scoring for Atletico Madrid. La Liga goals on the Bacerlona Offside.

Top 4: Barcelona 49 pts, Sevilla 47, Valencia 43, Real Madrid 43

Germany – It was a poor weekend for the top three in the Bundesliga as all three dropped points. Leaders Schalke 04 were beaten 1-0 at home against Bayer Leverkusen, while Stuttgart could only muster a 0-0 draw against Hertha Berlin and Werder Bremen only got a point from their 2-2 draw against lowly Borussia Moenchengladbach. The benefactor in all this was Bayern Munich who beat Wolfsburg to make things even more jumbled at the top of the table.

Top 4: Schalke 49 pts, Stuttgart 45, Werder 43, Bayern 40

Croatia – It is a two-term race at the top and after this weekend Dinamo Zagreb has the advantage over rivals Hajduk Split. A pair of goals by top scorer Eduardo da Silva gave Dinamo a 2-1 win over Hajduk to open up their lead in the league to six points with 13 matches to go.

Top 3: Dinamo Zagreb 53pts, Hajduk Split 47pts, NK Zagreb 37pts

Portugal – Porto extended their lead in the Portuguese Premier League after giving an ass whipping to Beira Mar 5-0. Sporting’s chances of coming away with the trophy at the end of the season were hurt when they were held at home 0-0 by last place Desportivo das Aves. Benfica will need to win Monday against Pacos Ferreira to keep pace with Porto.

Top 3: Porto 46 pts, Benfica 39, Sporting 39

Serbia – The “eternal derby” was one for the ages as Partizan Belgrade defeated Red Star Belgrade 4-2 to close the gap between the two teams to nine points. It was Partizan’s first win over Red Star in six years and it bodes well for their future as three teenagers scored goals. The match was marred by clashes between the team’s two fans with 13 people hurt and 27 arrested

Top 3: Red Star Belgrade 42pts, Partizan Belgrade 33, Mladost Apatin 30

Japan – If you have missed the J-League you will be happy to know that they are kicking the ball around once again in Japan. The Super Cup is the traditional kick off to the season and this year it featured Urawa, who won both the regular season title and the Emperor’s Cup last season. Lest you think the Reds will run away with everything again this year, Gamba Osaka have announced to the world that they will be mighty tough this season. They beat Urawa 4-0 to claim the Super Cup.

Belgium – Things are tight at the top of the table in Belgium. Racing Genk’s 3-0 win over Roeselare combined with Anderlecht’s 1-1 draw against Lokeren means that Genk have moved past Anderlecht, at least for this week.

Top 4: Racing Genk 53pts, Anderlecht 51, Standard Liege 48, Ghent 47

Peru – It was a historic weekend for the wonderfully named Total Clean. The club collected its first top-flight win ever, beating Coronel Bolognesi 3-0. The club were formed only three years ago by a local cleaning firm but won promotion after going through the massive Copa Peru, a nationwide competition featuring hundreds of clubs. Cienciano stayed at the top of the championship’s first stage.

Top 3: Cienciano 12pts, Melgar FBC 10, Alianza Lima 8