Soccer-S.America round-up-Spitting fans halt match in Uruguay

RIO DE JANEIRO Aug 20 (Reuters) - Spitting fans forced a Uruguayan match to be called off at the weekend after they targeted opposition players and a linesman.

Atletico Nacional beat arch-rivals Independiente Medellin 1-0 to go top in Colombia and Chilean champions Colo Colo squandered a 2-0 lead as they were held 2-2 by Union Espanola to complete their third game without a win.

URUGUAY

The Uruguayan season got off to an unhappy start when unruly Progreso fans caused their team's match at Miramar Misiones to be abandoned in the 83rd minute.

Referee Olivier Viera halted play for five minutes in the first half when the Progeso supporters spat at a Miramar player when he went to take a corner.

The final straw came with seven minutes to play as a linesman complained he had also been spat on.

"When they insult you, you put up with it, but when they spit at a linesman, they've gone over the limits and that cannot be tolerated," Viera told the daily newspaper El Pais.

The Progreso fans were incensed at the sending-off of Alvaro Alonso in the 71st minute. Miramar were winning 1-0 with a goal by Marcelo Mansilla.

Champions Danubio began with a 1-0 win at Juventud, Uruguay midfielder Ignacio Gonzalez scoring the only goal.

COLOMBIA

Chilean forward Fernando Martel scored on his debut, six minutes after coming on as a substitute, to give Atletico Nacional a 1-0 win over Independiente Medellin in the 249th Medellin derby.

Martel scored with a shot which squeezed between the post and Medellin goalkeeper Bryan Lopez.

Nacional, the only unbeaten team, lead the Clausura championship with 13 points from five games.

Bucaramanga gave new coach Eduardo Retat an excellent start by beating Atletico Huila 5-0.

CHILE

Champions Colo Colo blew a 2-0 lead as they were held 2-2 by Union Espanola.

Eduardo Rubio and Colombia midfielder Giovanny Hernandez put the Chieftains in control but Johan Fuentes and Manuel Neira scored in the last 12 minutes as Union struck back.

Despite the result, Colo Colo stayed top of Group One. Universidad Catolica, Audax Italiano and O'Higgins lead the other groups.

Former Lazio and Juventus forward Marcelo Salas, who has returned to play for Universidad de Chile after six months out of the game, scored with a backheeled goal to set his team on the way to a 5-2 win over Deportes Concepcion.

Pedro Morales added two more either side of halftime, Luis Chavarria put through his own goal and midfielder Christian Martinez completed the scoring for Universidad de Chile.

ECUADOR

Barcelona stayed top of the championship's second stage with a 2-1 win over Deportivo Imbabura.

Marcelo Delgado and Alex Bolanos scored in the first 20 minutes for Barcelona before Bolanos turend villain when he was was dismissed in the 32nd minute for a second bookable offence.

Daniel Neculman pulled one back for Imbabura in the second half.

Barcelona have a three-point lead over El Nacional, who beat Deportivo Quito 2-1 in a derby.

Veteran striker Agustin Delgado, back in action after a six-month ban for his part in a brawl last year, scored his 100th goal in Ecuadorean football as he was on target in LDU's 3-0 win over Emelec.

Argentine striker Carlos Soriano scored a hat-trick in Deportivo Cuenca's 4-0 win over Olmedo.

PARAGUAY

Leaders Libertad came from behind to beat 3 de Febrero 2-1 with second half goals from RobertoGamarra, a penalty, and Colombian Vladimir Marin.

Gustavo Ramirez gave the Ciudad del Este based team a first-half lead.

Only 439 people watched the game at the Dr. Nicolas Leoz stadium.

VENEZUELA

Guaros, who have given 41-year-old Colombian goalkeeper Rene Higuita the chance to make another comeback, won their first-ever match in the top flight as they beat Carabobo 3-1.

Julio Cesar Lopez, John Castillo and Francisco Pineda shared the goals for Guaros, while Jaime Salazar replied for Carabobo.

Deportivo Anzoategui went top of the Apertura championship by beating Estudiantes de Merida 3-0 while champions Caracas FC were held 0-0 at home by UA Maracaibo.