Corinthians holds on to heroic draw

Playing with nine men against eleven for 65 minutes, Corinthians was able to hold on to a scoreless draw against Sao Paulo at the Morumbi Stadium this Monday, frustrating the league leaders quest to open a larger advantage over their closest pursuers in the standings of the Brazilian Serie A. After losing two points in this local derby, Sao Paulo saw Internacional close the gap to three points, and keep the tournament still wide open.

Corinthias began the game pulling forward, wanting to surprise Sao Paulo. However, new signing Cesar was sent off after just 4 minutes, due to a violent tackle on Souza. Despite the advantage, Sao Paulo was unable to create many chances, and Corinthians still seemed closer to opening the score. Twenty minutes later, Eduardo was also sent off for another violent tackle, this time over Thiago. Amazingly, Sao Paulo still failed to gain full control of the game, and allowed Corinthians to come forward dangerously on a couple of occasions.

The match's perspective changes substantially in the second half, with Sao Paulo finally opting to play more using its wings instead of just the middle of the pitch. However, despite hitting the post and the crossbar, the leaders were unable to convert one of the several chances they were able to create. Corinthians stayed back, trying to hold on and go forward on occasional counterattacks. In one of those chances, it almost scored near the end of the game. However, in the end this was to be one of the best scoreless draws of the tournament, one that left the leaders feeling like they should have won it easily, while the defending champions felt proud for their efforts that saw nine men playing like they were twelve warriors.

Internacional was more than happy to hear about the news coming from Sao Paulo, and did its part to defeat Atletico Paranaense 2-0 at the Beira Rio, in Porto Alegre. In a first half with four balls hitting either the post or the crossbar, Inter went up ahead 1-0 when Adriano took advantage of some nice playmaking by Fernandao. Atletico almost tied when Indio deflected a free kick and hit his own crossbar, shortly after. Inter was the better team for the remaining of the first half though and hit the post twice, with goalkeeper Cleber saving two other chances created by Inter's attack. Atletico still hit another post before the first 45 minutes were over, in another extremely entertaining spectacle.

Inter was still better in the second half, and scored its second with Fabiano Eller, in the 51st minute. The rythm dropped a little after that, but Fernandao was still able to hit the post one more time for the Libertadores champions, now in second place just three points behind Sao Paulo, and seemingly back on track after missing a beat when four players left the team following the continental title.

Meanwhile, Santos failed to defeat Fortaleza away from home, despite giving the impression it could do so early in the match. After an initial burst by the visitors, Fortaleza quickly began settling down, and then passed on to control the action. Just as the locals seemed closer to score, Santos made it 1-0 with a long shot by Denis. Despite the goal, Fortaleza kept playing well, but only tied the game in the second half, with Rinaldo, in the 58th minute. From there till the end, both teams traded excellent goal scoring chances, but the 1-1 draw would stand.

The same result achieved away from home by the other second place team, Gremio, which went to Rio to face Vasco on Saturday. On a very tight and defensive game, the visitors went ahead with Lucas on a shot from outside the box. Vasco tied on a free kick by Andrade. Since the defensive style of both teams prevailed, very little chances were created from then on, and the second half was not enough to determine a winner.

In other matches, Palmeiras came back from suffering an early goal at home to Sao Caetano to win 3-1, with all goals coming in the first half. Ponte Preta defeated Santa Cruz 2-0 in Campinas, and Juventude beat Cruzeiro by the same score in Caxias do Sul. Parana ended its four-game losing streak with a 1-0 victory at home over Fluminense. And Flamengo left the bottom four with a good 2-0 win to end Botafogo's four-game winning streak. Finally, Figueirense could only tie Goias 2-2, dropping to seventh place.