Sao Paulo salvages draw with Coritiba in Brazil

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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Sao Paulo missed a chance to pull closer to Brazilian league leader Palmeiras when it managed only a 2-2 draw with Coritiba at home on Wednesday.

Defending champion Sao Paulo opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when defensive midfielder Hernanes stole the ball at midfield, raced to the area and fired in a powerful strike.

Coritiba bounced back, scoring in the 37th minute when a shot by Carlinhos Paraiba bounced of Sao Paulo goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni only to be put in by midfielder Renatinho.

Marcelinho Paraiba put in a booming shot five minutes later to Coritiba the lead heading into halftime. It wasn't until the 67th that striker Washington booted one in off a cross just in front of goal to end the scoring.

It was Sao Paulo's sixth draw in 14 home matches.

Flamengo -- playing without star striker Adriano, who is preparing for a national squad match against Bolivia -- earned a 3-3 draw with Vitoria.

A quick counterattack led to a Flamengo goal by striker Denis Marques in the 13th, but Vitoria hit back just four minutes later when striker Roger rose above Airton to put in a header.

Flamengo immediately went on the attack and went up 2-1 after Petkovic converted a free kick. But Vitoria rallied back, scoring in the 21st when Ramon converted his own free kick.

Vitoria sent the home crowd into a frenzy with another Bruno score, this time with a smashing shot on a cross from Ramon.

It wasn't until injury time that Flamengo managed to find the equalizer when Ze Roberto took a cross from Juan in the area to put it in the net.

Santos breathed some life back into its campaign with a 1-0 victory over Sport after three straight defeats.

The Recife club was on the attack for the first 30 minutes of the match and kept Santos on its heels, but striker Felipe Azevedo put Santos on top in the 37th, taking a ball that bounced off a defender just in front of the area and putting in a hard left-footer for the score.

The win put Santos in the No. 9 spot on the standings with 39 points.

In other matches, Fluminense tied Corinthians 1-1 at home; Barueri and Santo Andre drew 0-0; Atletico Paranaense drew with Gremio, 0-0; while Internacional beat Nautico, 3-1.

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