With Round 19 complete, the 2011 Brazilian Serie A reaches its halfway stage.
All teams have completed half their schedule of 38 games with the exception of Santos and Gremio, who have a makeup game to play.
Overall, Corinthians and Flamengo are out in front and look to be the two main contenders for the title. However Sao Paulo are still at large while Rio rivals Vasco Da Gama and Botafogo lurk in the background. Further afield Palmeiras is on the outside looking in as only five points separate the top six. All in all the first half has been hecttic with tow games a week, Copa Do Brasil, Copa Sudamericana qualifiers and Copa Libertadores matches all thrown in, as well as the Copa America which loomed large in July.
An engrossing second half awaits. The full table can be seen here.
Week 19, coincidentally was Derby Week with no less than eight derbies taking place. As usual it was much ado about nothing as most of the games fizzled out and there were few memorable moments. Among the big winners were Botafogo, Avai and Palmeiras, with most of the other crosstown contests ending in draws.
Rio:
Botafogo pulled off another great win from a very encouraging season as they beat Fluminense away. Elkeson and Lucas bring the fire back form Fred's opener. Flamengo and Vasco promptly played out a 0-0 draw. Botafogo draw closer to the top four.
Sao Paulo:
Santos and Sao Paulo played out a 1-1 draw as Ganso cancelled out Lucas's early goal. Mean while Palmeiras beat league leaders Corinthians 2-1 at home, to compress the leader board and do everyone a favour. Palmeiras stay close to the top five and sit just a point behind Botafogo in fifth and just five points behind leaders Corinthians. Luan and Fernandao fought back after Emerson's early goal.
Florianopolis:
Avai pulled off the upset of the round beating Figueirense 3-2 away. Ygor and Julio Cesar scored for Fig but Lincoln and then a double from William drew Avai level twice before winning them the points.
Belo-Horizonte:
Cruzeiro scored a crucial win at Atletico Mineiro with Walter Montillo scoring either side of Filippe Souto's strike for Mineiro.
Liga Do Nordeste:
Northeastern rivals Bahia and Ceara faced off in Fortaleza with the home side scoring a crushing 3-0 win. Thiago Humberto, Felipe Azevedo and Edmilson all scored to keep Ceara above their rivals in the table.
Porto Allegre:
Despite having a morbid season with a lack of scoring punch, Gremio scored a morale-boosting 2-1 win over Internacional at home. Douglas secured the points from the spot after Indio had levelled the home side's early lead through Marquinhos.
In the other two games, almost forgotten amongst the derby matches, Coritiba and At Para drew 1-1 in Curitiba with Emerson's goal for the home side being levelled by Edilson, with both goals happening in the first half. At Go continued their impressive revival with a 2-1 win at bottom side America, winning 2-1. William Rocha had put America in the lead before a Juninho double secured the win.
At Go move upto 12th and Cruzeiro are now in seventh.
Borges still leads all strikers with 12 goals while Montillo joins Ronaldinho on 10 goals to tie for second place.
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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.
Vasco Da Gama, who won the Copa Do Brasil, have booked a spot at the 2012 Copa Libertadores.
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Over the past few weeks, eight Serie A teams, based on last season's finish, squared off in the second qualifying stage of the 2011 Copa Sudamericana (South America Europa League).
Vasco edged Palmeiras on away goals (2-0 and 1-3) Marcos Assuncao
Botafogo beat Atletico Mineiro 3-1 on aggregate (1-0 and 2-1) Herrera (2)
Sao Paulo beat Ceara 4-2 on aggregate (1-2 and 3-0) Rivaldo scored !
Flamengo edged At Para 2-0 on aggregate (1-0 and 1-0) Ronaldinho (2)
In addition:
Internacional picked up the Recopa Sudamericana (South American Super Cup), which pits the 2010 Sudamericana Winner (Independiente) versus the 2010 Libertadores Champion (Inter).
The two legged final was played on Aug 10 and Aug 24, 2011.
In the first leg Independiente won 2-1 with goals from defender Maxi Velasquez and Marco Perez edging a solitary strike from Leandro Damiao for Inter. In, Porto Allegre, Damiao continued his purple patch, scoring twice, with Kleber notching a third as Inter won 3-1 and ran out 4-3 winners overall. Velasquez scored again.
This was the Red Nation's second Recopa Sudamericana following their 2007 win.
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