Chile's big teams all returned to winning ways in the fourth round of the 2012 Apertura, but the table still has a surprise leader in Santiago Wanderers, who won their third straight match.
Union Espanola got off to a perfect start in the Copa Libertadores, but travelled to Union San Felipe on Friday evening looking to avoid a second straight loss in the league. A wild opening sequence saw Claudio Latorre put the home side ahead in the 13th minute, only for the visitors to peg them back a minute later through a Sebastian Jaime header. Though Espanola had the better of the early exchanges in the second half, a long ball found their goalkeeper in no man's land for Latorre to lob home a second from long range, and Sergio Nunez added an insurance strike in the 82nd minute to ensure a 3-1 win for San Felipe.
In the first Saturday's games, Universidad de Concepcion and Cobresal fought out a 1-1 draw in Concepcion. Both goals came within five minutes of each other at the end of the second half, as Gabriel Vargas put the home side up, only to be pegged back by a free kick from Hector Pericas minutes later.
Santiago Wanderers hosted a struggling Audax Italiano side in Valparaiso, and although the visitors put up a fight, Wanderers' late surge put the game well beyond doubt. The highlight of the game was a brace from Wanderers' 21-year-old striker, Sebastian Ubilla, whose pair of goals put him top of the Clausura scoring charts after two weeks. The home side moved the ball well and fully deserved ubilla's opener, but were pegged back by an own goal from Moises Villarroel. Nonetheless, the response was impressed as Wanderers scored three goals in 15 minutes to put the game beyond doubt before youngster Felipe Mora scored a consolation goal for Audax to make it 4-2.
Universidad de Chile didn't have to travel, despite being the away team, as they played Palestino in front of a sparse crowd the Estadio Nacional looking to snap a run of poor form. After a scoreless first half, Junior Fernandes and Nicolas Canales cancelled each other out by the 66th minute, but another late surge saw an Albert Acevedo header and young Peruvian starlet Raul Ruidiaz net two in the last 13 minutes to secure a 3-1 win for the visitors. Universidad de Chile manager Jorge Sampaoli was ejected early in the second half for protesting an offside call.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Deportes Iquique scored a 2-0 home win over newly-promoted Rangers with Jaime Grondona and Jonathan Rebolledo on the scoresheet to snap Iquique's run of three draws to star the season. Meanwhile La Serena hosted O'Higgins, the two teams playing to a wild 2-2 draw capped by a late equalizer from O'Higgins' Rodrigo Rojas, despite the team having been reduced to nine men. Enzo Guiterrez had staked the visitors to a 1-0 lead in the first half, but Mauricio Salazar and Julian Fernandez had made it 2-1 before Rojas' equaliser.
On Sunday, Universidad Catolica snapped a poor run of form (one loss, two draws in all competitions when they deservedly edged out Antofagasta 1-0 thanks to Felipe Gutierrez, whose well-taken volley with the outside of his foot was enough to secure the victory in the first half.
Cobreloa picked up their second win in three games in emphatic fashion, blowing past Huachipato with two goals on either side of halftime for an eventual 4-2 win. An error from Cobreloa goalkeeper Luciano Palos gave Huachipato the lead, but a Cristian Canio penalty and an excellent volley from Hugo Lusardi put Cobreloa up at the half. Cristian Milla and Canio struck within 10 minutes of the restart, and despite an immediate reply from Bryan Rodriguez, the final half hour was an easy ride for Cobreloa.
Finally, Colo Colo played host to Union La Calera, looking to keep their unbeaten streak alive and did just that, beating the visitors 3-1 with a comprehensive performance. Rodrigo Millar opened the scoring in the first half before Esteban Paredes did well to score a second on the other side of the break. Roberto Gutierrez completed the rout in the last minute of regulation, while Fernando Manriquez grabbed a consolation for the visitors with a well-struck free kick deep into stoppage time. The win gave Colo Colo sole possession of second place, with eight points from four games.
Follow Nick Rosano on Twitter: @nicholasrosano.
