Internacional gets important win

Not even the fact that the team played without most of its regulars seemed to matter for Internacional on Sunday. The team still played well and managed an important 2-0 win over Palmeiras at the Beira Rio Stadium in Porto Alegre to reach 6 points and the lead atop the standings in the 2009 Brazilian Serie A. Danny Morais and D’Alessandro scored for the locals in front of close to 30,000 fans, happy to see the second win in as many games. Inter decided to rest some of its regulars due to the second leg of its quarterfinal matchup against Flamengo, for the Brazilian Cup, scheduled for Wednesday.

Vitoria also has six points in two games, after beating Sport 1-0 at home, in front of just 4,500 people. Maybe fans will start believing in the team after these first wins to start the championship and show up in larger numbers in the next home game?

Speaking of few fans, only 2,500 hundred cared enough to see Barueri host Fluminense. In this case, however, it seems that the people who stayed home knew better, as both teams played out a boring scoreless draw.

It seems that the Brazilian Serie A will finally have a new champion this year, after three-time defending champion Sao Paulo remains winless after a couple of games. This time around, the team could only savage a point in a 2-2 home tie against Atletico Paranaense. Decimated by injuries to regular players and poor performances by other key members of the team, Sao Paulo just hopes to get things going again before having to face Cruzeiro next week in the Copa Libertadores quarterfinal.

Cruzeiro, by the way, went to Recife and lost 2-0 to Nautico. Santos built a 2-0 lead over Goias at home but ended up surrendering a 3-3 tie in a very entertaining game. Botafogo and Corinthians also created quite a few scoring chances, but had to settle to a 0-0 draw at the Engenhao in Rio de Janeiro.

Coritiba scored first but ended up losing 4-2 to Santo Andre at home, while Flamengo could not score and drew Avai at home, 0-0. Finally, Gremio went to Belo Horizonte and lost to Atletico Mineiro 2-1, in a personal revenge for coach Celso Roth against the team that had fired him earlier this year. Atletico's winning goal came in injury time of the second half, on a controversial penalty kick.

A closer look at the first round results

Here's a closer look at the results from the first round of the 2008 Brazilian Serie A.

In a tough match, with Sao Paulo playing without some key players in order to rest for the midweek match against Fluminense for the Libertadores quarter-finals, Gremio scored a lone goal at the start of the second half to escape with a 1-0 away win and extend Celso Roth's command atop the squad from Porto Alegre. Sao Paulo still had some chances and deserved to tie the game, but in the end the result did not upset the locals too much, given that the team's main goal in the first semester is to win the Libertadores.

Cruzeiro had a great away win over a weak Vitoria side in Salvador. Marcelo Moreno scored the opening goal for the visitors in the first minute of the game, but was sent off in the second half when his team already lead by two goals, thanks to an own goal by a Vitoria player near the end of the first half. Playing with the man advantage, the locals still created a few chances, but the best chance they had was a ball that hit the crossbar.

Coming back to the first division of Brazilian soccer, Coritiba had a strong debut with a 2-0 win over Sao Paulo State champions Palmeiras. The visitors tried to dominate the action during the first few minutes of the game, but Coritiba was the better side for most of the game. After a scoreless first half, Michel made it 1-0 at the 53rd minute, after exchanging some passes with Hugo. With seven minutes left in the game, the two would exchange some passes again, but this time Hugo would be the one to get the ball past goalkeeper Marcos.

In Sao Paulo, Portuguesa and Figueirense scored no less than 10 goals, in an exciting 5-5 draw. The locals were winning by a 5-2 score at one point, after scoring three goals in four minutes. However, Figueirense would still score three times in the final 22 minutes to give the game its final numbers.

Flamengo defeated Santos 3-1 at the Maracana Stadium, with Juan scoring twice and Marcinho getting the other goal for the locals. The visitors, playing with its reserve side - most starters were already in Mexico getting ready for the midweek clash against America for the Libertadores quarter-finals -, still had a late goal, with Morais scoring on a penalty kick in injury time.

In other games, Geraldo scored two for Nautico in the 2-1 win against Goias. Inter scored in the first minute against Vasco with Sidnei, and held on to the win until the end. Atletico Paranaense also scored near the start of the game, with Leo Medeiros leaving his mark against Ipatinga after just three minutes, giving the visitors a good 1-0 away win over the team from Minas Gerais, which played its first ever game in the Serie A. Botafogo defeated Sport 2-0, with one goal in each half. Finally, resting some players for the Libertadores clash with Sao Paulo, Fluminense went to Belo Horizonte and tied Atletico Mineiro 0-0.

Defending champions lose in debut

Here are this weekend's results, for the first round of the 2008 Brazilian Serie A. Two-time defending champions Sao Paulo played with a reserve squad and lost at home to Gremio, 1-0. Newcomers Ipatinga also lost by the minimum score at home, to Atletico Paranaense. Cruzeiro recovered from the midweek loss at home to Boca Juniors, going to Salvador to defeat Vitoria - coming back to the First Division - by a 2-0 score. Nautico had a good debut, defeating Goias at home, 2-1. Sao Paulo State Champions Palmeiras lost to Coritiba away from home, 2-0. Internacional had a 1-0 home win over Vasco, while Botafogo had a 2-0 win at home against Sport. Fluminense also fielded a reserve squad in order to rest for the important Libertadores quarter-final against Sao Paulo, and managed a scoreless draw against Atletico Mineiro. Flamengo had a good 3-1 win at home over Santos, and Portuguesa played to a wild 5-5 home draw against Figueirense.

More comments about the games when I manage to come back tomorrow.

Botafogo settles for tie with Goias

In a game between the two top teams in the Brazilian Serie A socer league, Botafogo and Goias settled for a 1-1 draw this Tuesday in Goiania. The result maintained the five-point lead the team from Rio has over Goias - now in third place after Sao Paulo moved within four of Botafogo with a win over Internacional.

The locals managed to get an early lead with Paulo Henrique heading the ball into the net after a corner kick. Shortly thereafter, however, the team had a player sent off and was no longer able to dominate the play the same way it had during the first 20 minutes of the game. Botafogo then started spending more time on attack, but without any luck in the scoring department. Things didn't change even after a player from the visitors was sent off late in the game. Botafogo kept controlling the ball and pushing forward, but Goias was still dangerous in counterattacks. In the second half, things didn't change much, but Botafogo seemed unable to penetrate the strong defensive wall built up by Goias coach Bonamigo. Fortunately for the visitors, a free kick near the penalty box in the 74th minute was all it would take Juninho to tie the game. Botafogo still tried to get the go ahead goal in the final minutes of play, but one point would be all both teams would be taking from this game.

Meanwhile, Sao Paulo and Inter played a very entertaining match at the Morumbi Stadium in Sao Paulo. The locals had quite a few chances in the first half, but were not able to open the score. At the start of the second half, however, goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni scored on a penalty kick to give final numbers to the game. Not that the goal meant the end of entertaining play, as Inter took advantage of Sao Paulo trying to protect the lead and almost scored a goal of its own in later opportunities. Bravely - albeit a bit luckily -, Sao Paulo held on to the 1-0 advantage to earn three points and move into second place in the standings, now trailing leaders Botafogo by four points.

In other matches, Palmeiras had no trouble building an early 2-0 lead over America Natal at home and holding on to this score in the second half, while Fluminense and Parana were held scoreless in Rio de Janeiro. Gremio had an important 3-1 win over Juventude, in a Rio Grande do Sul matchup in Porto Alegre. Figueirense held on to a 2-1 win at home over Cruzeiro, and Atletico Paranaense failed to defeat Nautico at home, tying 1-1.

Three matches close out the ninth round on Wednesday, with Sport hosting Corinthians, Atletico Mineiro playing Flamengo at home and Santos going to Rio to face Vasco.