Parana state team Coritiba beat Minas Gerais state's Ipatinga 1-0 in the 14th round of the Brazilian League Wednesday night, reaching the eighth place in the soccer tournament.

With the victory, Coritiba reached 20 points, and is seven points behind league leader Flamengo.

The team also maintained its invincibility in home matches in the tournament, and is among the group that qualifies to the South American Cup.

Ipatinga has 10 points for its last place in the tournament, risking being delegated to the second division only a year after its promotion.

The Brazilian League is a tournament with 20 teams. The last four are relegated to second division, the first four qualify to Libertadores Cup, and those from fifth to eleventh place qualify for the South American Cup.

Coritiba began the match in an accelerated rhythm and had its first chance to score in the seventh minute, when striker Hugo tried a head goal and Ipatinga's goalkeeper Fred saved.

At the 35th minute, Hugo passed to Keirrison, who wasted his chance. Ipatinga explored the counter-attacks, and had a good chance in the end of the first half with Rodriguinho, but none of the teams managed to score.

In the second half, Coritiba maintained its pace, but Ipatinga ran out of steam, allowing Carlinhos Paraiba, the best player in the match, to score the only goal of the match in the 75th minute.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2008)