Flamengo remain the only unbeaten team in the Brazilian Campeonato after seeing off Cruzeiro 1-0 in Belo Horizonte on Wednesday evening. Deivid de Souza scored the winning goal on the stroke of half-time, bursting forward in a counter-attack and then collecting Ronaldinho's lay-off and beating the goalkeeper.
The victory keeps Flamengo a point behind leaders Corinthians, who narrowly overcame America Mineiro 2-1 thanks to a second-half strike from Paulinho. Jorge Henrique got the leaders off to a perfect start with a goal in the first minute but Everton Kempes levelled for the visitors after 15 minutes. Paulinho restored Corinthians' advantage in the second-half and America, who had Nascimento Gilson sent off for a second yellow card, couldn't equalise again.
Vasco da Gama are still in the hunt for the title after inflicting a third straight defeat on Santos. Andrade Diego Souza and Anderson Dede scored the only goals of the match in the first 20 minutes to give Vasco a 2-0 victory.
Sao Paulo put in a dominant performance to beat Bahia 3-0 and move up to third in the table - three points behind Corinthians. Rogerio Ceni opened the scoring for Tricolor from the penalty spot after a free-kick was adjudged to have hit a hand in the wall. Dagoberto then made it 2-0 with a superbly taken chip to finish off a swift counter-attack and Lucas rounded off the scoring with another decent finish.
Elsewhere, Internacional paid the price for a missed penalty as they were beaten 2-0 by Fluminense. Diego Souza gave Flu the lead with a back post header on 55 minutes but Inter had the chance to draw level when Leandro Damiao was fouled in the area. However, Andres D'Alessandro's penalty was saved by Diego Cavalieri and Rafael Moura sealed the win for Flu when he scored from 12 yards after Wilson Matias had been sent off for tackle on Fernando Bob.
Coritiba continued their recent run of good form with a 1-1 draw against Palmeiras, with both goals coming in the first-half from Jeci dos Santos and Palmeiras' midfielder Marcos Assuncao. Marcelo Oliveira's side have now lost just once in their last five outings, while Palmeiras, who had Thiago Heleno sent off late on, have slipped to fifth in the table after Vasco's and Sao Paulo's wins.
Atletico Mineiro took a point from their encounter against Gremio thanks to a late header from Leonardo Silva. Leandro fired Gremio into the lead with a well taken goal on 50 minutes but Andre de Souza scored an equally impressive effort minutes later to level the match.Fabio Rochemback then made it 2-1 from the penalty spot before Leonardo headed in from a corner in the final minutes. The match will be Julinho Camargo's last in charge after he was sacked on Thursday.
Avai followed up their shock win over Corinthians with an impressive 3-0 victory at Ceara. William Souza gave Avai the lead in the first-half and the visitors scored twice more late on through Rafael Luiz and Cleverson after Wellington had been sent off.
Figueirense's Edson da Silva enjoyed a mixed evening as he found the net in his side's 2-0 win over Botafogo but then received a second yellow card in the 65th minute. Fortunately, Julio Cesar had also scored from the penalty spot by that time and the numbers were levelled in the dying moments when Matos Maicosuel was dismissed for two bookable offences.
Atletico Paranaense moved off the foot of the table after a surprise 3-0 victory at Atletico Goianiense. Fabricio Carioca fired Atletico PR into the lead on the stroke of half-time and further goals from Manoel and Kleberson ensured victory.
