Latin Football Fever

As we are getting into February deeper and deeper, the more Latin American leagues have started, or about to start. The off season's ended almost everywhere now.

In this shorter edition, we will analyse the player moves of the Guatemalan league and a short highlight of recently ended Copa de UNCAF.

The highest level league in Guatemala will resume this weekend. We say resume, because it is not a year based championship like at most of other Latin countries. The market was relatively quiet, or at least more silent than usual.

Let's see the teams one by one then, in order of placement:
 
Comunicaciones:



The winner of the 2008 Apertura, and we can say, they have the best roster and largest bench in the league. A big accomplishment, I have rarely seen this in last couple of years.

There were no movements in the team and for sure this is the biggest achievement especially with Fonseca staying, though he had offers from Mexico. During the offseason, the goal scoring machine, Apellaniz had enough time to recover from his serious injury. The capital based team is the first candidate to win the title.

CSD Municipal:



New coach, new era again. Many players left, such as P.C. Motta, E. Villatoro, Leguizamón, S. Taylor, and though none of them were regulars, all of them were fine additions in case in need. Surely the bench weakened a lot, as only two players arrived. J. Brown is a good prospect, a talented striker but yet to convert his talent to goals at bigger teams. The other player is C. Fernández, an old idol of the team from the start of the present decade. How good is his form? Nobody knows in fact. Nevertheless, the reds are candidates for the title as well.

Zacapa:



They were the surprise team during most of the regular season, but blown out at the end. The team lost various players during the off season from every section, among them a couple of regular starters too. Only two notable players arrived and their bench will be too small. Add the fact that Zacapa has had to face constant injury threats during last one and half years and their chances look rather bleak. We did predict the same before the start of the Apertura.

Xelajú MC:



Quetzaltenango based reds lost only one player, Figueroa who went to Olimpia Asunción. He was important in midfield so we'll see how they will manage to replace him. The attacking section remained intact with the local "magic triangle" F. Pavón-A. Solís-Cubero, so they are candidate for the semi finals and possibly even for the final.

Márquense:


They finished on an undeservedly high place in the Apertura. A couple of players left and a couple of new ones arrived, but the strength of the team, at least we think, hasn't changed. The newcomers are relatively unknown but we think they will fight to avoid relegation.

Xinabajul:


Granados and Ortíz arrived, but Martín and Priego left. Both of them were important elements, especially Priego in the attacking section. There will be huge pressure on Estrada for the whole season. Their strength hasn't changed, as in the case of Márquense. They can reach the play-off but nothing more.

Heredia:



The only northern-based team in the league, which tries to build a solid team but the result is always the same, to finish in the low region.

Heredia’s recent year's best striker Brown has left, although he was not that important during the Apertura. A quality defender, Schmidt arrived to help to make a more solid defence. Their fate will be the usual, a battle to avoid relegation.

Petapa:



The San Miguel based team will resume the league with exactly the same squad and coaching staff. They finished where we thought in the Apertura, and we don't have any reason to believe in another scenario.

Suchitepéquez:



The Roosters faced serious financial troubles, and at one point it seemed, half of the team would abandon the club. Well, it seems all problems are solved. What's more, two valuable players (Leguizamón and Villatoro) arrived to strengthen the attacking section to take off the pressure from the shoulders of Carlos Castillo. If everything goes well, they can finish in a place which earns a play-off. Relegation doesn't seem probable but not out of the question.

Jalapa:



The negative surprise of the season. They won the 2007 Aperture and took part in CONCACAF Champion's Cup, but all went wrong. An early departure and then a terrible regular season. The team finished in last place and the owners decided to strengthen the roster. There is no doubt, Jalapa has strengthened the most. Though C Castillo left, players in include Cabrera, an ex Comunicaciones from Danish club Aarhus, R. de León, James McCarthy (don't mix him with the drummer of  60's blues combo The Yardbirds), and above all, the Argentine goal scoring machine, Gallo as well as one of the best keeper in the league, P.C. Motta. With these reinforcements, they should avoid relegation and have even chance for a playoff spot.

Table

Pos.	Team	G	W	D	L	F/A	P
1.	Municipal	22	9	9	4	35:23	36
2.	Comunicaciones	22	9	9	4	35:28	36
3.	Xelaju MC	22	9	8	5	32:30	35
4.	Huehueteco Xinabajul	22	7	8	7	24:31	29
5.	Zacapa Deportivo	20	8	4	8	21:19	28
6.	Marquense CD	20	7	4	9	27:33	25
7.	Heredia Deportivo	18	6	3	9	23:24	21
8.	Petapa	18	6	3	9	16:20	21
9.	Suchitepequez	18	4	8	6	31:29	20
10.	Jalapa Deportivo	18	4	6	8	17:24	18

Copa de UNCAF

There were not only player movements during the offseason, but the Copa de UNCAF was also played, deciding which five regional national teams go to Copa de Oro.

The tournament was hosted by Honduras, and brought a lot of surprises. Panama won the tournament for the first time, eliminating the two regional heavyweights Honduras and Costa Rica in the semi final and final. It is also true; most of the teams fielded an A-B medley squad. The level was incredible low, and organisers should think further on this tournaments future.

The other surprise was the performance of the two minnows, Belize and Nicaragua. The latter qualified for the first time to Copa de Oro, eliminating Guatemala for the fifth spot. However final placement is still certain; because of the scandal which occurred in the bronze match, when El Salvador dumped after having only six players left on field due to red cards and injuries.

El Virrey