It's great to be home

No home team lost in the final four games of the 18th round in the Brazilian Serie A soccer league on Thursday. With three wins and one draw, the home teams closed the round with an impressive record of seven wins, two draws and one loss. The only team to win on the road in this round was Sao Paulo, which beat Botafogo 2-0 in Rio de Janeiro to open a five-point lead atop the standings.

On Thursday, Vasco had no trouble beating a disorganized Corinthians side 2-0 at the Sao Januario Stadium, in Rio. The match began with both teams struggling, but Vasco opened the score with Wagner Diniz in the 24th minute. Vasco improved in the second half and scored once again, with Enilton in the 55th minute. The locals still missed a couple of other chances and could have even won by a larger margin. In the end, the result pleased Vasco nevertheless, since the team jumped back to 30 points, good for third in the standings.

Gremio played just enough to beat a very poor America Natal side 3-0 at home, with two goals by Tuta and one by Kelly. After scoring early in the game, the locals sat back and almost got scored in a couple of chances. The team managed to hold on till the second half, when it scored twice more to break a two-game losing streak and reach sixth place in the standings, with 28 points.

Santos jumped to seventh one point behind Gremio with a 2-0 win over Parana at the Vila Belmiro Stadium. The locals had a lot of trouble trying to break through the defensive formation taken by Parana, but in an isolated play reached the goal with Marcos Aurelio, in the 38th minute. From then until the end little was created and nothing changed until injury time of the second half, when Kleber Pereira scored to confirm Santos' third win in a row. Parana is now winless in five games.

Finally, Palmeiras hosted Internacional at the Parque Antarctica Stadium, in Sao Paulo, but was unable to go beyond a 1-1 draw. Valdivia scored early for the locals, in the second minute, but the team was once again unable to secure a win at home. The home team sat back on defense after the goal, and Inter started pushing forward. Palmeiras was able to hold on the pressure until the 85th minute, when Alex scored on a free kick for the visitors. The result left Palmeiras with 27 points, in eighth place. Inter has only 24 points, good for tenth place.