Defensor Win Uruguayan Title

It is taking South America by storm. Yet another small team wins another title. Just a couple of years ago, it was a surprise to see Rocha win the title, but it is slowly becoming more commonplace in Charrúa football. Uruguayan side Defensor Sporting repeated the feat by winning that country’s domestic title in dramatic fashion by beating Central Español 2-1.

In a match that was hard-fought in the middle of the pitch, Defensor was able to open the scoring with Sebastián Fernández in the 57th minute. This score had the small contigency of Sporting fans celebrating the championship prematurely. Paolo Paritti would even the score in the 88th minute and made anyone wearing purple dying a slow death in the stands. That feeling would last a little while as Andrés Lamas would wear the hero’s cap on this day leading them to that title that no one at Parque Rodó thought they would be contending for at the beginning of the season even though they did have success at the international level in 2007.

That result in combination with Rampla Juniors’ 1-1 draw against Cerro helped the Violetas win the league title for a fourth time. For former player Jorge da Silva, this was his first title as a coach and what sweeter way to do so than by winning it with the club where he started his footballing career. Meanwhile veteran José María Morales was an important part of the leadership of this club on the pitch

What was more amazing was that neither one of the big two were even in contention for the title. Nacional and Peñarol, currently in 5th and 12th place respectively, were our out of the running for the past two weeks. If there is any solace for Nacional, it is the fact that they will at least play in Copa Libertadores next year alongside Montevideo Wanderers and Danubio.

Defensor will now face the winner of the Clausura tournament later next year in order to define an absolute champion next year. They did earned a spot for the 2009 Copa Libertadores.