Relegation to Serie B defined

The second-last round of the Brazilian Serie A played on Sunday defined which teams were relegated and will play in the Serie B next year. Santa Cruz and Fortaleza were already doomed to the Second Division before this round, which saw Sao Caetano and Ponte Preta complete their fall from the Brazilian Football elite. Traditional teams Fluminense and Palmeiras breathed a giant sigh of relief, as their presence in next year's Serie A was confirmed following the weekend results.

Palmeiras was humiliated at home by Internacional, suffering a 4-1 loss with a great display by newcomer Alexandre Pato, 17, who scored once and was considered the name of the match for Internacional. The result left the locals with 43 points, which meant the team could still be surpassed by Ponte Preta if the team from Campinas managed to win its last two games.

However, Ponte went to Goias and left with another lopsided loss, a 3-0 defeat. This result guaranteed that Palmeiras could no longer be relegated. However, Fluminense was losing to Santa Cruz in Recife and remained only three points ahead of Ponte. That meant the team from Rio could be caught in the last round, next week, if it lost and Ponte won.

All changed when Fluminense came back from its first half partial loss and scored twice in the second half, sealing the 2-1 win and getting more than enough points to save its season and remain in the Serie A.

Sao Caetano, which still had a slim chance of avoiding relegation, lost 2-0 at home to Parana and also said hello to the Second Division in 2007. The result was also important for the visitors, who reached 59 points and took the last Libertadores spot from Vasco, which only managed to tie 1-1 with Santos at home to fall one point behind Parana. In the last round Vasco will travel to Santa Catarina to play Figueirense, while Parana will host champions Sao Paulo - which will likely rest several starters, granting them an early start to their vacation following last year's shortened holidays due to the World Club Championship in December.

On Sunday, Sao Paulo played its last home game of the season at the Morumbi, in front of 45,000 fans who gathered to see the team officially celebrate the league title. The players did not disappoint and scored a 2-0 win over Cruzeiro, with a celebration ceremony following. Players and staff received medals for winning the title, and goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni lifted the Serie A trophy after having scored the 68th goal of his career during the game (the other goal was scored by defender Fabao, who's leaving the team for Japan).

In other matches, Botafogo and Corinthians played to a scoreless draw at the Maracana Stadium, while Gremio defeated Flamengo 3-0 in Porto Alegre. Juventude disappointed in a 2-2 home draw against Fortaleza. Still, that was better than the home collapse of Atletico Paranaense, 4-1 losers against
Figueirense, just three days after a 4-1 loss to Pachuca in Mexico ended the team's hopes of a Copa Sudamericana final berth.

Promotion

Meanwhile, Atletico Mineiro confirmed its Serie B title with a 2-2 home draw against America de Natal at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte, in front of close to 75,000 people. It was the largest crowd of the year for a soccer match in Brazil, surpassing the 69,000 fans gathered last week at the Morumbi Stadium for the game that gave Sao Paulo the Serie A title. The result also qualified America for the Serie A next year, alongside Atletico, Sport and Nautico. The tying goal scored ten minutes from the end gave America a tie in points with Paulista, which beat Brasiliense 4-3, but the team from Natal had advantage in the tiebreakers.