Brazilian Serie A Week 2

It continues.

The Brazilian Serie A kept up the intensity of the opening round with another intriguing set of results this past weekend.

Sao Paolo's eponymous club of the same name, kept up the pace at the top of table with another win.  This time a late Lucas goal gave them a 1-0 win over Figueirense at home in Morumbi.  The Santa Catarina club scrapped all the way but eventually succumbed to probably the deepest squad in Brazil this year.  I now pause to mention Stephanie, who reads my blog and is a massive fan of Sao Paolo.

The eagle eyed among you may point out that Marcelino in fact scored the goal - but 19 year old Rodrigues Moura da Silva used to be called Marcelino, and has reverted to using Lucas since last last season.  Soccernet needs to keep its game up.

Rivaldo came on again as a substitute and played most of the second half.  Casemiro, the other star from the Brazilian U-21 team and captain Rogerio Ceni played the entire game - the later kept his second clean sheet in a row.

Fellow Sao Paolo club Corinthians also followed up their opening day win with another triumph, this time edging promoted Coritiba 2-1.  Santos came crashing back down after their midweek win in the Copa Libertadores, losing at Botafogo 1-0.  Fellow Rio clubs Vasco da Gama and Fluminense both won as well, beating likely relegation candidates this round.  Vasco beat promoted America Miniero 3-0 at home, while defending champions Fluminense finally got on the board with a 1-0 win at Athletico Goianense.  Leading scorer Bernardo scored again for Vasco.

Ronaldinho's Flamengo fared a little bit worse this weekend, with a thrilling 3-3 draw at Bahia.  Flamengo looked to have the game in the bag when they took a 3-2 lead and then saw Bahia have a man sent off with 12 minutes to go.  However, striker Jobson scored his second goal of the game right at the death to draw the Fortaleza team even.  Ronaldinho scored the first goal of the game in the 30th minute.

Palmeiras mantained their unbeaten record with a 1-1 draw at Cruzeiro, who finally got on the board with their first point.  The Porto Allegre pair had contrasting results with Gremio beating Athletico Paranaense 1-0 away but Internacional succumbing to Ceara 1-0 at home.  It's a great result for the northern side who have the most daunting travel schedule for away games.  After Iarley scored in the 63rd minute they managed to defend in depth for the remaining half hour, even withstanding Washington's dismissal in injury time.

Finally, Athletico Miniero scored an impressive away win at Avai, recording a 3-0 win to stay perfect on 6 points.

Four teams are locked on 6 points each.  Vasco Da Gama and Athletico Miniero top the table with an identical goal difference of +5.

At the bottom Avai, Ath Paranaense and Coritiba are all yet to open their accounts.

Santos, interestingly, but as suspected, have their eye on the continental prize and have only 1 point from both games as they sit in 17th currently.

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- All four of Corinthians, Sao Paolo, Vasco Da Gama and Athletico Miniero won for the second game in a row
- From the four promoted sides, Figueirense, Coritiba and America all lost while Bahia picked up a point.
- Rio saw three of its teams win with only Flamengo failing, somehow, to notch three points.

- Sao Paolo and Corinthians won while Santos lost.  Palmeiras rounded out the Sao Paolo clubs with a draw.

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At least the top 12 sides will qualify for continental competition next spring while the bottom four teams will get relegated to the 2012 Serie B.

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Ceara were the standout winners with a solid away win over one of the favourites.  Athletico Miniero also won big away from home but Avai are not quite as threatening as Internacional.

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Next up are the second legs of the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores, on Wednesday.

Santos plays Paraguay's Cerro Porteno while Argentina's Velez Sarsfield squares off with Uruguay's Penarol in the other tie.  Both are first leg matches.  Penarol and Santos carry 1-0 leads from the first legs.  Santos were predicted to win the first game and are still tipped by this hack to go through.

The Copa Do Brasil final is between Vasco Da Gama and Coritiba (once again as picked by yours truly).  And as previously tipped, Vasco to win the Cup.