Palmeiras U17 beat Cruzeiro U17 4-1 in the Brazil U17 league on Thursday evening. The result came in matchday twelve of the regular season at their home ground. By then the hosts had already built a comfortable cushion at the top of the table.
Palmeiras sit first after twelve games with thirty-four points from eleven wins, one draw and two losses. Cruzeiro remain in seventh place on twenty-five points after seven wins, four draws and three defeats. The gap between them has now widened to nine points.
The hosts have been in strong form of late. They beat Internacional U17 2-0 on August 11th and followed that with a 5-0 victory over Juventude on the 4th. Two games before that they drew 1-1 with Bahia before losing twice in a row to Flamengo and Corinthians.
Cruzeiro's recent runs have been more mixed. They drew 1-1 with Fortaleza on August 12th and shared the points 2-2 with Santos on the 4th. Before that they beat Vasco 1-0 and went on a short run of wins against Atletico Goianiense and Internacional.
And here's the thing about a four-goal margin at this level. You don't need possession statistics to see who controlled the game. The scoreline tells you enough about where the balance lay.