Argentina: Huracan takes first with one week left

Huracan thrashed Arsenal de Sarandi 3-0 and is one win away from clinching the Argentine championship for the second time in their history. Huracan proved too strong for Arsenal and won the match courtesy of goals from Mario Bolatti, Patricio Toranzo and Matias de Federico.

With the victory, Huracan overtook Velez Sarsfield at the top of the table, with 38 points. Huracan meets Velez in the final round of the season next week, with the winner of the match claiming the title. While Velez has 37 points, Lanus, the third and last team still with possibilities of winning the championship, finds itself with 35 points.

The highly anticipated clash between Velez and Lanus ended in a 1-1 draw in the Cuidad de Lanus stadium in the south of Buenos Aires. Jose Sand put Lanus ahead in the first half, but Uruguayan striker Hernan Lopez fired in a penalty kick in the second half to rescue Velez a point. Velez played almost the entire second half with 10 men after Fabian Cubero's controversial sending off.

Colon de Santa Fe, which still had a mathematical chance of winning the championship coming into the round, defeated Estudiantes de La Plata 3-1 at the Cuidad de La Plata stadium. German Rivarola, Alfredo Ramirez and Esteban Fuentes scored for Colon, while Jose Calderon scored Estudiantes' only goal of the match. Despite the win, Colon can't win the championship this season.

In Sunday's other two matches, Argentina's two most successful clubs, Boca Juniors and River Plate, suffered painful defeats. River was beaten 1-0 by Godoy Cruz, while Boca fell 2-1 to Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata.

The losses mean River moves down to sixth place, while Boca moves down to an embarrasing 17th place. The Apertura champions have only won five of their 18 matches this season.

On Saturday, San Lorenzo won its Buenos Aires derby with Independiente 1-0 with a second-half goal from former Independiente striker Nestor Silvera.

In the other matches, Rosario Central edged Tigre 1-0 and Racing Club won 2-0 at Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy. Both were important wins for two teams who have been fighting for top-flight survival all season.

On Friday night, San Martin beat Newell's Old Boys 1-0 in Rosario and Argentinos Juniors and Banfield drew 1-1 in La Paternal.