Half of the places have been filled in the last 16 of the Copa Libertadores. This final week of the group phase, then, is all about filling the other half.

Eight slots remain, and 14 teams are chasing them. In some cases, it is a straight shootout. In Group 5, for example, either Colombia's Santa Fe or The Strongest of Bolivia will join Santos of Brazil in the knockout phase. The two teams meet in Bogota on Tuesday. Santa Fe need to win. A draw is good enough for The Strongest. But the Bolivians...

Approaching a mini pause due to the upcoming international break, the Copa Libertadores has a big week coming up, with 28 of the 32 teams in action.

Some are playing their third of six group games, while most are playing their fourth. This is the time, then, when qualification for the knockout stage starts to be defined. There are some huge matches coming up in the next few days. These are the five to pay attention to.

Tuesday, Group 8

Sporting Cristal (Peru, 5 points) vs. Racing (Argentina, 6 points)

Last...

The Wright brothers, of course, were pioneers of aviation -- while a pair of siblings by the same name were responsible for getting Ecuadorian football off the ground.

Juan Alfredo and Roberto Wright came back to the country at the turn of the 20th century after a few years studying in England -- and part of their intellectual baggage was a knowledge of and passion for football. They got the game underway in their native city of Guayaquil, Ecuador's Pacific port.

Over a century later Ecuadorian...

We're skipping back to last Sunday here, with LDU Quito beating reigning champions Emelec 2-1 in the Ecuadorian top flight to shore up third place in the table.

However, it could have been a different story for Emelec as they were within seconds of clinching themselves a well-deserved point when the game ticked over into the 93rd minute with the scores level at 1-1.

Sadly, it was at this point that their goalkeeper, Esteban Dreer, came moseying up from his area to launch a late free kick deep into...

Superman is up and running, flying and scoring goals. Enner Valencia opened his West Ham account with a splendid shot in Monday's 2-2 draw away to Hull City.

Back in his native Ecuador, meanwhile, his old club were missing his power to produce the unexpected. Emelec lost 1-0 to Barcelona in the latest installment of the country's biggest local rivalry, the "shipyard derby" in the port city of Guayaquil.

Ecuador has two major cities: Guayaquil and the mountain capital of Quito. These days, in...