By Georgia Grimond, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Corinthians FC were last night celebrating a triumphant win in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A football (soccer) competition. Despite only drawing against Vasco FC, the Paulista team triumphed taking the title for the sixth time, in the 35th round of the 38 round national tournament.
By tying 1-1 at São Januário in Rio on Thursday, November 19th, Corinthians finished the evening with 77 points. They were helped to the title by their only other challengers, Atlético-MG who lost 4-2 against São Paulo in a thrilling game, leaving an insurmountable gap of twelve points behind the leading teams.
The tournament will continue and Vasco, in turn, must fight in the remaining games to escape relegation. It is currently second from the bottom with 34 points. Corinthians will play a derby games against rivals São Paulo on Sunday, November 22nd, and then the last of championship rounds before officially being crowned winners.
The tournament paused for just over a week so international World Cup qualifying games could be played. Three Corinthians players were in the line-up, two of whom, midfielders Elias and Renato Augusto, have been named as some of the best players in the Brasileirão. Dunga, the Brazil coach, has drafted them into his squad for games in the South American World Cup qualifiers.
Meanwhile, other Carioca teams were also on the pitch on Thursday evening. Fluminense were beaten 1-0 by Grêmio, a team from Porto Alegre in Rio Grande de Sul. The Gaucho team played with efficiency from the beginning and will be pleased with their first win in four meetings against the Flu this year. Luan secured their victory putting the ball in the back of the net after a penalty.
The Flu now drop one place to fourteenth in the table, with a total of 43 points. Flamengo FC are currently in eleventh position with 48 points after finishing 0-0 against Santos on Thursday night.