Perfect weekend for Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo had the perfect weekend on the Brazilian Serie A soccer league. First, the team did its part in beating Atletico Paranaense at home 2-0 on Saturday. Then, of its closest opponents on the league standings, only one won. As a result, the team finished the 19th round seven points clear at the top of the table, reaching the halfway point of the league in great fashion.

Botafogo can close that gap to four if it beats Corinthians on Wednesday, on a game postponed from the seventh round. On Sunday, the team from Rio went to Santa Catarina and jumped ahead of Figueirense at the start of the second half with Dodo, but in the end the locals tied the game in a goal that should have been called off for offside.

Meanwhile, Corinthians scored twice in the last ten minutes to come back from a 1-0 deficit and beat Gremio 2-1 at the Pacaembu Stadium, in Sao Paulo. It was the second win in the last three games for Corinthians, which jumped out of the relegation zone with the result. Gremio deserved to lose, and actually was lucky to finish the first half ahead on the scoreboard.

In other games, Cruzeiro beat America Natal 2-1 in the final minutes of the game to gain third place from Vasco in the standings. The team from Belo Horizonte now has 32 points, one less than Botafogo, while America keeps holding the last spot, unlikely to move from there till the end of the season, in another 19 rounds.

Vasco went to Curitiba and could not get past a scoreless draw with Parana, dropping to fourth in the standings with 31 points. Parana, which had also tied Botafogo 0-0 at home last week, sits in 13th with 24 points.

Palmeiras went to Belo Horizonte and came away with a very undeserved 2-1 win over Atletico Mineiro, which dominated for most of the match but was unable to get this advantage translated into more goals than the opposing team. Palmeiras reached fifth place with 30 points, while Atletico fell to 12th with 25.

Goias also dropped a few positions, to sixth, after going to Porto Alegre and losing to Internacional 1-0, on the first game back for local coach Abel Braga. Inter's win lifted the team to ninth place, with 27 points.

The surprise of the round happened at the Maracana Stadium, where a Fluminense team missing several regulars had no trouble handling Santos, in a 3-0 win that ended a five-game winless streak and a three-game scoreless streak for the locals. Santos, on the other hand, had won three games in a row, but was unable to stop Fluminense on Sunday. The win left Fluminense with 26 points, one behind Santos.

Flamengo defeated Nautico 2-1 on Saturday, getting only its third win in the league this season. And Sport Recife defeated Juventude 3-0 at home, also on Saturday, to reach 27 points.