Corinthians maintain pace.
The leaders from Sao Paolo ensured they held on to the league lead with a 1-0 away win over bottom feeders At Go. Meanwhile Atletico Mineiro and Sao Paulo reversed their recent losing trends and reversed their slides. Coach Tite has now won five games in a row and triumphed in eight of their nine games.
In the Rio derby that was the pick of the round, Flamengo beat Fluminense 1-0 to maintain their unbeaten start to the season and remain in the title race, hot on Corinthians' heels.
Elsewhere Palmeiras hosted a weakened Santos and easily beat them 3-0 to stay in the top four while Santos dropped closer to the relegation mire.
Plenty of action, lot of twists and turns in the Brazilian Serie A, where football never sleeps.
All 20 teams were in action as round 9 was split over two days, Saturday and Sunday, June 9-10, 2011.
Three games on Saturday and seven on Sunday.
First up, Sao Paulo straightened things in the league with a close but eventually comfortable 2-1 victory over Cruzeiro, who had had a good spate of recent results. Marlos and Dagoberto scored the goals for Sao Paulo, for whom Casemiro played another blinder.
Rivaldo made a late appearance for the Sao Paulo side who now sit in third with 18 points, one behind Flamengo in second and four behind Corinthians in first. Wallyson, the 2011 Copa Libertadores leading scorer, finally netted his first goal of the domestic campaign, at the ninth time of asking, in a losing effort for Cruzeiro, who remain 10th.
Vasco Da Gama, continued their decent season with a 2-0 win over Internacional at home. Inter's juggernaut, was halted at the Vasco Rowing Club Stadium in Rio, as their unbeaten streak and three game wining run came to an end. Vasco's goals came from forward Eder Luis and defender Dede (not the one who used to play for Borussia Dortmund). Vasco are now in seventh, one spot behind Inter.
Saturday's final game was a tame goalless draw between the bottom two clubs, Atl Para and Avai. They remain 20th and 19th respectively.
Sunday saw the remaining 12 teams take the field. First up Willians gave Flamengo an away win over local rivals Fluminense. The winning goal was scored just at the stroke of halftime. Flamengo remain second and unbeaten while defending champions Fluminense drop to ninth.
Since Inter lost, you just knew Gremio would win, and they did beating Cup finalists Coritiba 2-0 at home. Former Arsenal captain, invincible and World Cup winning midfield veteran Gilberto Silva opened the scoring for Gremio before Andre Lima scored a second. Gremio climb to 11th while Coritiba, who had a decent few recent weeks of games, stay in 14th. Andre Lima scored 11 times for Gremio last season and notched 12 strikes for Botafogo in 2007, so the 28 year old should have some more goals in him.
Defender Willian scored another precious away winner for leaders Corinthians, beating At Go 1-0 in Goias. He now has four goals this campaign. Corinthians continue to look down on the rest of the table while At Go now drop into 17th, the last of the drop zone.
Elkeson scored his fifth goal as Botafogo tied Bahia 1-1 on their trip to Salvador. Fahia got the equalizer in the 78th minute. The Rio club drop to fifth with their draw while Bahia drop to 15th. Speaking of northern outposts, Ceara made the trip south from Fortaleza to Figueirense and took home a 1-1 draw with the Florianopolis club. Washington scored for the visitors while Maicon levelled things for Figueirense. After their heady start, Jorginho's side are now nestled in eighth while Ceara are sitting in 12th.
The Belo Derby between the two Mineiro's Atletico and America went the way of the former with goals from Neto Berola and Jhonato Obina giving them a 2-0 win at home. Atletico rise to 13th while America are still in the drop zone in 18th.
Finally, in the late game, Palmeiras thrashed Santos 3-0 to stay in the top three and arrest Santos' hopes of going back up the table. The Copa Libertadores side have won just twice this season and cannot wait for their national team trio of Neymar, Ganso and Elano to return quickly enough. They remain in 16th while Palmeiras stay in fourth.
Maikon Leite, Mauricio Ramos and Patrick scored the goals for Luiz Felipe Scolari's title chasing side.
Walter Montillo and Ronaldinho, who both had a quiet round, still lead the scoring charts with six and five goals respectively. Elkeson joined the latter with his fifth strike. Inter's Oscar and America's Alessandro, also have five goals each.
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Three Sao Paulo clubs are in the top four while three Rio clubs are in the top seven.
Only two clubs remain unbeaten, Corinthians and Ronaldinho's Flamengo.
Two clubs remain winless in Avai and Atletico Paranaense who are 19th and 20th respectively.
For the ninth round in a row, both Porto Allegre clubs failed to both win. For the sixth round in a row, one team won and the other lost.
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At least the top 13 sides will qualify for continental competition next spring while the bottom four teams will get relegated to the 2012 Serie B. Santos added to the four spots the league gets in the 2012 Copa Libertadores by winning this year's edition.
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Vasco Da Gama, who won the Copa Do Brasil, have booked a spot at the 2012 Copa Libertadores.
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