Serie B: Criciúma win and stay clear at the top; Avaí near Z-4 exit | OneFootball

Criciúma and Avaí secured important wins in the 19th round of Brazil’s Série BCredits: Celso da Luz / Press Office of Criciúma E.C. and Lucas Rhamon/@avaifc

In opposite situations in Série B, Criciúma and Avaí secured important wins on Tuesday night (21) in the 19th round. At Jorge de Biasi, Tigre beat Novorizontino-SP 1-0 and maintained a five-point lead over second-place Vila Nova, which is still trying to cut the gap and defeated Fortaleza 2-1 at Onésio Brasileiro Alvarenga. Meanwhile, Leão came from behind to beat América-MG 2-1 at Ressacada and is close to leaving the relegation zone.

Criciúma reached 39 points. Juventude and Operário-PR, who still play in this final round of the first half of the season, each have 32 and could move closer to the leaders. Avaí now has 20 points, the same total as Londrina, the first team outside the bottom four.

Today’s matches

With a chance to take over second place, Operário-PR faces Ponte Preta at 7:30 p.m. (Brasília time) this Wednesday (22) at Germano Kruger. The Paraná team has 32 points and, with a win, would overtake Vila Nova, which has 34 — Juventude also has 32 and faces Botafogo-SP on Thursday (23) at 9:30 p.m.

At the same time, Ceará and CRB take the field at Presidente Vargas. Then, at 8:30 p.m., Goiás hosts Sport at Hailé Pinheiro, while Londrina visits Náutico at Aflitos at 9:30 p.m.

In addition to Botafogo-SP x Juventude, Thursday will feature Athletic-MG x São Bernardo-SP at Arena Sicredi at 7:30 p.m., and Cuiabá x Atlético-GO at Arena Pantanal at 8:30 p.m.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.