Gremio jumps to second place

Gremio likes playing at the Aflitos Stadium in Recife. Two years ago, the stadium was the venue for one of the most fantastic matches ever played by the team, which heroically battled on with just eight players to guarantee a win over Nautico that granted the team the promotion to the following year's Serie A. Yesterday, after Nautico had to wait an extra year to join Gremio in the Brazilian football elite, both teams faced each other again for the first time in the same venue of that historical night. The end result was the same, a win by Gremio, even if not in as dramatic fashion. Playing a defensive style, the visitors took advantage of counter-attacks to get the 2-0 win, with Tuta scoring in the first half and Carlos Eduardo in the second. The result puts Gremio in second place, with 24 points. Nautico is tied for last with America with just 10 points in 14 games.

America Natal ended up losing to Flamengo on the road (1-3) to drop one spot to the bottom of the table. Flamengo now has 11 points in 11 maches, with the win over America being only the team's second of the season. At least Flamengo fans were able to celebrate the third goal, scored by Obina, who's still recovering his fitness after being out for a couple of months due to an injury.

Meanwhile, Santos went to Goiania and lost its four-game unbeaten streak, falling to Goias by 1-0 on a goal by Welliton. The locals climbed back to third in the standings, with 23 points, while Santos remains with 18 points, good for 12th in the standings. Atletico Paranaense tied Cruzeiro at home (2-2), with the visitors scoring in injury time of the second half.

This was the same result of the Figueirense against Corinthians game, in Florianopolis. The locals lost several chances to end the game early, always stopping on great saves by goalkeeper Felipe. Corinthians took advantage of the few chances it created and escaped with a very good away draw. Internacional once again took advantage of the play of Alexandre Pato, scoring a 1-0 win at home over Parana to reach 20 points, 9th in the standings.

But the most entertaining match of the evening was reserved to the Parque Antarctica Stadium in Sao Paulo, where visitors Vasco jumped to an early 2-0 lead in the first half, just to see Palmeiras come back to win 3-2. The locals scored twice in the final 10 minutes, despite the fact they had been playing one man short since the 65th minute. The result prevented Vasco from reaching fourth place in the standings, instead providing Palmeiras with the chance to get past Vasco and move into 6th in the standings.

Last minute goal saves Palmeiras

Palmeiras gained a point in a 2-2 tie with Santos on Thursday, scoring the tying goal in the last minute of play to keep alive a five-game unbeaten streak. Santos opened the score with Kleber - returning from a stunt with the Brazilian National Team - in the 11th minute. Nen tied the game for Palmeiras eight minutes later, but Pedrinho put Santos back on the lead with a goal in injury time of the first half. Palmeiras pushed forward in the second half, allowing for dangerous counterattacks by Santos. In the last play of the game, the ball was shot to the penalty box, where Martinez deflected it with a header and hit Rodrigo Souto, who ended up scoring an own goal.

In Uberlandia, Parana won for the first time in five games, beating Flamengo 2-1. Josiel scored twice in two minutes (in the 28th and 30th minutes) to put Parana up ahead, while Leo Medeiros gave Flamengo some hope with a goal in the 36th minute. In the end, however, Parana managed to hold on to the lead to leave Flamengo with eight points in nine matches, still in the relegation zone. Parana reached fifth place in the standings, with 19 points.

Finally, second place Goias played to a scoreless tie against Gremio in Goiania, in a poor match with very few chances created by both sides. Goias now trails Botafogo by four points, but the leaders have one game in hand.