Uruguay week 10 preview

Week 10 in Uruguay is right around the corner. Thanks to Labor Day, a national holiday in Uruguay on May 1, the football weekend starts on Thursday and is over on Saturday evening. Here is your preview for all the games.

Racing host Villa Teresa in the Parque Roberto. (Photo: racingclub.com.uy)

Racing Club and Villa Teresa are kicking things off on Thursday afternoon local time. Over in central Europe, the game will kickoff at 8:30pm CET. Racing are in a simply bad run of form as their last and only wins came in week 1 and 2 of the season. But Villa Teresa themselves are waiting for a win since three games now. If Racing can keep their goalscoring going and their defense manages to hold up instead of breaking down like against Liverpool the past weekend, a lot speaks for a home win and the club finally getting back on winning track. 

Friday is started off (8:30pm CET) with a battle between two more lower end teams: Danubio and Rentistas. Danubio, winless since Clausura week 1, seek to reach success, but their situation looks a little more grim than Racing's. They fail to score enough goals (5 straight with 1 or fewer), while not keeping the ball out of their own net on the other side. Rentistas meanwhile look to bounce back from an unlucky loss against Peñarol. 

The scene for El Tanque Sisley vs Juventud. (Photo: panoramio.com)

At midnight (CET), El Tanque Sisley look to win their third game of the season against Juventud. Losing four straight in recent weeks, they have certainly not looked good lately. Juventud just have two more points, but at least their goalscoring has been okay. If they can keep it up they should have a chance to beat El Tanque in the Estadio Campenoes Olímpicos.

Peñarol and their new stadium face their next challenge in in-form Liverpool. Following a come-from behind victory against Rentistas, they will need to be extra careful again though. Liverpool striker Junior Arias has scored seven goals in his past four games for his team. Peñarol are trusting their collective so far, with their best goalscorer having 3 goals (3-way tie between Forlán, Rodríguez and Murillo). Then again, with a week of rest and considering it is a home game for Pablo Bengoechea's side, you have to call yellow & black the favourite. This game will kick off at 2:30am CET.

The final four games will be play on Saturday. At 10:30am local time (!, 3:30pm CET), River Plate and CA Cerro will be trying to build on their most recent successes. Surprisingly weak at home, River so far only managed two points from four games. On the other hand, Cerro has an even away record and are in the midst of the title fight, just three points off the pace set by Plaza Colonia. It will be interesting to see if Cerro can sneak out another tight victory against somewhat strong competition.

When talking of home teams, Fénix is the number 1. They will be at home again against Montevideo Wanderers at 6pm CET. The loss at Nacional's GPC has set Fénix back a little in the fight to stay amongst the top sides. If there is any trouble they recently had, it's their goalscoring. It is now four straight games without more than one goal. On the other hand, Wanderers scored three in three straight games, but come into this weekend on the backend of a 0-0 draw with Defensor Sporting. Whoever gets their goalscoring back under way will come out on top of this one.

The aforementioned Defensor Sporting are hosting league leaders Plaza Colonia this weekend (8:30pm CET). Just when you thought they would slow down finally, Plaza picked it back up and remain on top of things. At this point you have to wonder whether Eduardo Espinel's team is strong enough to actually win the Clausura with six games left. Whichever way you look at it, Defensor have just won one home game all season and will be outsiders against the successful side from out West. Plaza Colonia are the best away team in the league and have not lost once on opposition ground.

Week 10 is closed by the only remaining Copa Libertadores participant Nacional. Gustavo Munúa's XI is going to play Sud América at the Centenario (midnight to Sunday CET). Resting players for the second leg would theoretically be a good idea, but went awfully wrong before on a previous attempt. Sud América have won their last league game 1-0 over Villa Teresa, but Nacional did not lose since week 6 either. The only two league losses the favourite suffered happened away from home though. Can Sud América, the fifth best home team, threaten enough?