Internacional closes gap to six points

Oct 13, 2014 - 3:30 PM Sao Paulo, Brazil (SportsNetwork.com) - Internacional moved to within six points of Brasileiro leaders Cruzeiro after claiming a 2-1 win over Fluminense.

Cruzeiro's 3-0 defeat to Flamengo on Sunday, combined with Internacional's victory over Fluminense, leaves the club six points back of the leaders with 10 games still to play in the season.

Internacional entered its match with Fluminense having lost two straight games, and the club had to wait until the second half to break a scoreless deadlock when Alex chipped goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri in the 53rd minute.

Fluminense was able to equalize four minutes later as Fred turned a header inside the near post from Diego Conca's cross. However, Valdivia came off the bench and he latched on to a nice pass from Andres D'Alessandro to fire home the winner.

Cruzeiro, meanwhile, sustained its second successive defeat after falling behind in the 15th minute when Dede deflected a cross into his own net.

The league leaders were wasteful in front of goal as the first half wore on, and they paid for it after the break with Hector Canteros doubling the advantage for Flamengo by swiping the ball from goalkeeper Fabio and sliding it home from a tight angle.

Gabriel capped the scoring for Flamengo five minutes later as he hammered home a pass from Alecsandro.

Goias rolled to a 3-0 win over Coritiba as the team took a 2-0 lead in the opening 25 minutes, Palmeiras rallied for a 2-1 win against Gremio with goals from Pablo Mouche and Joao Pedro in the last 23 minutes, while Wallyson's penalty kick in the 29th minute was enough to help Botafogo past Corinthians, 1-0.

Atletico Mineiro edged Sao Paulo, 1-0, in a battle of top-four teams with a second-half goal from Luan providing the difference, Tiago Luis scored in the first half and Chapecoense held on for a 1-0 win against Bahia, Guilherme Dellatorre scored twice as Paranaense downed Figueirense, 3-0, Criciuma built a two-goal lead in the first 23 minutes and secured a 3-0 win over Santos and Vitoria tallied two goals in the first half and held off Sport Recife, 2-1.