Corinthians tops Vitoria to push unbeaten run to six

Sao Paulo, Brazil – Corinthians continued its rich vein of form on Sunday, running its unbeaten streak in league play to six matches after posting a 2-0 victory over Vitoria.

Corinthians got off the mark quickly on Sunday as Ralf found the back of the net just six minutes into the match and they held the lead going into the halftime intermission.

After the break, the home side doubled it advantage in the 51st minute when Alexandre Pato converted a spot kick. Vitoria was never able to break the Corinthians defense and is winless in its last two league matches following a 1-1 draw with Fluminense on Aug. 7.

The result pushes Corinthians up to fourth place in the table through 13 matches and the club is just four points adrift from league-leaders Cruzeiro, which settled for a scoreless draw with Santos on Sunday.

Elsewhere in Brazil, Ken notched the only goal of the match for Vasco da Gama in a 1-0 victory against Coritiba, while Hernane scored a pair of goals to lift Flamengo to a 3-2 result over Fluminense.

Ponte Preta stretched its unbeaten streak to three consecutive games in league play after posting a comfortable 3-1 win over Criciuma, while Gremio collected goals from Cristian Riveros, Maxi Rodriguez and Biteco in a 3-0 victory over 10-man Bahia.

Joao Paulo scored in the first minute of play for Atletico Paranaense, but it was canceled out 13 minutes later by a goal from Juan for Internacional as the clubs battled to a 2-2 stalemate.

Finally on Sunday, Diogo scored on each side of halftime as Portuguesa edged Sao Paulo by a 2-1 count.

Saturday's action saw 10-man Goias score a 68th-minute equalizer to salvage a 1-1 draw with Botafogo, while Atletico Mineiro and Nautico played to a scoreless draw.