Playoff match-ups are set in Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica, while the post-season continued over the weekend in Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama as those leagues speed towards crowning a champion.
HONDURAS
In the opening leg of the Honduran semifinals, Atletico Choloma scored a surprise victory over Olimpia 1-0 at home. A Leonardo Isaula free-kick goal in the 33rd minute gave the upstart northerners the advantage over the Lions, headed back to Tegucigalpa for the return leg next weekend.
In the other semifinal, ten-man Motagua was unable to continue its hot streak against Victoria, which managed a 1-1 tie on the road. Motagua went down to ten men early in the first half, but Nery Medina still managed to open the scoring for the host in the 31st minute. Eder Arias supplied the second-half equalizer that will have the team from La Ceiba liking its chances heading into the return match.
PANAMA
Chepo advanced to its second straight Panamanian final, tying Rio Abajo 1-1, while the second semifinalist will be decided on Tuesday night.
The Tigrillos, up 2-0 coming into their home match against Rio Abajo, got a 79th minute goal from Bernardo Palma. Rio Abajo, which took the regular-season title in its first year in the Panamanian top flight, got a late equalizer from Anthony Basile, but Chepo went through 3-1 on aggregate. The Orange is looking for a first-ever Panamanian title.
The other side of the final will be completed Tuesday night, when Arabe Unido hosts Plaza Amador at the Estadio Agustin "Muquita" Sanchez in La Chorrera. The second semifinal match was postponed over the weekend due to heavy rains in Colon, forcing an eventual stadium switch. Arabe Unido, which has made two appearances in the CONCACAF Champions League, takes a 3-1 advantage into the second leg.
GUATEMALA
All eight quarterfinalist spots are filled, and the playoff matchups set to kick-off midweek, as the Guatemalan Apertura heads into the decisive post-season. Remarkably, there were no changes in the order of the top eight over the weekend, leaving some intriguing matches set for Wednesday.
Runaway leader Comunicaciones enters on a high note thanks to a convincing 2-1 win over defending champion Xelaju on Sunday. The victory left the Cremas on an outstanding 50 points from 22 matches, nine ahead of second-place Municipal. Ronald Gonzalez's side will now face Marquense, winners of two straight after a come from behind 2-1 triumph at home over Heredia, thanks to late goals from Terencio De Oliveira (89') and Hessler Archila (90'+3).
The Marquense come back snatched the final postseason spot from Petapa, which beat Halcones 2-0, but was still eliminated. Halcones ended in the fifth spot and will host Heredia in a home-and-away series starting Wednesday in La Mesilla.
Suchitepequez closed with an impressive 4-2 win over Juventud Escuintla, and will face Municipal, which played to a dramatic 4-4 tie with Universidad. Malacateco lost to visiting Mictlan, 1-0, but maintained the sixth spot and will host Xelaju in the other quarterfinal.
EL SALVADOR
Isidro Metapan clinched the top spot and FAS jumped into third place on the final weekend of action in El Salvador's regular season.
Metapan went on the road for an impressive 2-1 win over Aguila, with Alfredo Pacheco and Jorge Ramirez supplying first half goals. The same two teams will now meet in the semifinal round, starting next weekend.
FAS cruised past Santa Tecla at home, 4-1, behind a double from Jonathan Aguila, who opened the scoring in the 12th minute.
The win took the Tigers to third, passing Aguila. The Santa Ana side now faces a semifinal pairing with second-place Alianza, which eased past Atletico Marte 2-0 this weekend with two goals from Rodolfo Zelaya.
COSTA RICA
With the semifinalists already decided coming into the weekend, Alajuelense held on to the top spot with a 1-1 draw at Cartagines. Danny Fonseca opened the scoring just six minutes in for the host, but Pablo Antonio Gabas leveled in the 23rd minute.
La Liga's draw dashed Saprissa's hopes of finishing top, despite a 2-0 win over Limon. The Purple Monster finished one point behind Alajuelense, and will play third-place Herediano, a 1-0 winner over San Carlos, in one semifinal. In the other pairing, table-topper Alajuelense plays home-and-away against fourth-place Limon.
The rest of Costa Rica's teams closed out their seasons across the country, as Puntarenas topped Belen (3-2), Santos went on the road to beat Carmelita (5-2), and Uruguay topped Perez Zeledon (3-0).
NICARAGUA
Juventus secured its first point of the semifinal round with a 1-1 tie at defending champion Real Esteli, leaving everything to be played for on the final match day.
The Managua side, which had lost four straight coming into the weekend, got an 80th minute equalizer from Carlos Membreno to cancel out Rudel Calero's goal four minutes earlier for Real Esteli, denying the Tren del Norte its ticket to the final for at least another week.
In Managua, Walter Ferretti and Managua FC played to a scoreless draw, as both are now on eight points, one less than Real Esteli. Next weekend, Managua FC travels to Esteli, while Ferretti hosts Juventus.
