It was a good night for Gremio in the Brazilian soccer league, as the leader beat Ipatinga 1-0 on Wednesday night, accumulating 38 points for a five point lead.

Even though Gremio did not play well, it was enough to beat Ipatinga, the last team in the ranking, with 13 points.

The victory assured Gremio the 18th round's lead and an important advantage over runner-up Cruzeiro and third-placed Palmeiras, which will play on Thursday.

Fourth ranked Sao Paulo played against Rio's Fluminense in the Maracana stadium. Despite its recent awful results, Fluminense managed to win 3-1, but the victory was not enough for it to leave the delegation zone.

In the Brazilian league, the last four of the 20 teams are delegated to the second division.

Another traditional team risking being delegated is Santos, which lost 3-2 to Atletico Mineiro, while Atletico Paranaense managed to leave the delegation zone by beating Nautico 2-0 and jumping up four positions to rank 13th and Nautico fell one step to 17th.

Sport, current Brazil Cup champion, managed to beat Portuguesa for the first time in five years, reaching 27 points and climbing two positions up to eighth, while Portuguesa fell to 16th place.

Coritiba managed to climb one position by beating Rio's Vasco 2-0. The defeat made Vasco fall to 15th with 19 points.

Rio's Flamengo was defeated again by Goias 2-1. It has not won a single match since July 17th, and fell from the top to the seventh in less than a month, angering fans.

On Tuesday, a group of them threw a homemade bomb at the players during practice, injuring defender Didinho and striker Obina.

The incident scared Uruguayan striker Richard Morales from signing with the club. He was due to arrive in Rio on Wednesday to sign with Flamengo for four months.

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2008)