Palmeiras have sacked former Chelsea, Brazil and Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
The final nail in the coffin for the coach was Wednesday night's 3-1 defeat to Vasco da Gama, the club's ninth defeat in their last 13 league matches and one that leaves them second-bottom of the Brazilian Campeonato with 20 points from 24 games.
"We're all very sad and worried about the situation," Club's director-Sampaio told reporters after the game.
Scolari, usually known as Felipao (Big Phil) said he had not contemplated losing his job after the match.
"The idea of quitting has not crossed my mind," he said. "We have to sit down, chew it over and see what we can do differently."
Luan headed in Tiago's cross to give Palmeiras the lead in 23rd minute, only for Carlos Tenorio to pull Vasco level with a close-range effort six minutes later.
The first-half ended with jeers from a sparse Vasco crowd who also protested against club president Roberto Dinamite.
Vasco, under interim coach Gaucho after Cristovao Borges was sacked earlier this week, went ahead six minutes after the break with a Nilson header.
Former Olympique Lyon and Brazil midfielder Juninho Permanbucano added the third.
Palmeiras dropped to 19th in the 20-team table with 20 points from 24 games, seven behind 16th-place Flamengo. The bottom four go down.
A statement on the club's website read: 'After a meeting on Thursday afternoon between the president, director of football and technical committee of Palmeiras, it was mutually decided to terminate the contract between the coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and the club. Along with Scolari, assistant coach Flavio Murtosa also leaves the club.'
The 63-year-old Scolari, who won the 2002 World Cup with Brazil, returned for his second stint at Palmeiras in 2010.
Spain took the first step to defending their World Cup title in 2014 with a 23rd consecutive win in qualifying.
Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Loria kept Spain from converting their overwhelming possession into a goal until he was forced off with a leg injury.
Substitute Cesc Fabregas then found Roberto Soldado to slot his pass home just four minutes from time to silence the packed Boris Paichadze Stadium.
"It was a hard-fought win against a rival that gave us the ball but pulled back into its area," said Soldado, who was left off Spain's European Championship squad this summer.
"It was bewildering. It doesn't matter that you have the ball if you can't move."
The victory gave Spain three points, level in Group I with Georgia.
Spain deployed the same lineup that routed Italy in the final of this summer's Euro 2012 except for Soldado starting in place of Fabregas.
Not surprisingly, Spain owned the ball from the start with Andres Iniesta combining well with David Silva against the world's 86th-ranked team.
Georgia limited the visitors to Sergio Ramos' header into Loria's arms 10 minutes in and Silva's long strike that came off the upright in the 28th.
Spain came close to breaking through just before halftime through Xavi Hernandez. The midfielder drew a one-handed save from Loria with a long shot before setting up Soldado, only to see the Georgia goalkeeper better the striker one-on-one.
"It was a very tough game," Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said. "They closed up at the back and we weren't arriving well to their area.
"These are three very important points. If we had drawn it would have been a step backward."
Seeing his team struggle, Del Bosque quickly sent on forward Pedro Rodriguez and playmaker Santi Cazorla to try to recover the initiative.
Loria had to leave the pitch in the 73rd after suffering an apparent knee injury. He was replaced by Roin Kvaskhvadze in goal.
As Spain pressed for the elusive winner, Del Bosque brought in Fabregas for defender Alvaro Arbeloa 10 minutes from time. That move clearly worked as Fabregas was instrumental in the goal.
The draw means Argentina are on 14 points after seven of 14 matches, followed by Ecuador and Colombia with 13, Chile and Uruguay with 12 and Peru on 7.
"We knew it was going to be like this," Argentina midfielder Javier Mascherano said. "This is a tough place to play and the pitch wasn't that good. Everyone wants to beat Argentina."
Zamorano gave Peru the lead, chipping in from 8 meters after a cross from Luis Advincula.
Higuain equalized for Argentina in the 37th, set up by a perfect pass from the right wing by Ezequiel Lavezzi.
Peru matched Argentina in the first half, with the attacking of Jefferson Farfan and Advincula troubling Argentina's nervous defense. Lionel Messi was held in check and Peru was more aggressive, getting away with several rough tackles.
Argentina knew they were in for a high-intensity match ever since Monday when the bus carrying the players from practice was pelted with thrown objects, breaking several windows.
Peru had the better chances early in the second half with Paulo Cruzado hitting the post in the 54th. Three minutes later Argentina midfielder Fernando Gago was taken off the field on a stretcher with a head injury.
Peru's Pizarro and Argentina's Higuain and Marcos Rojo had chances to score late in the match, although a late goal by Argentina would have been an injustice.
Messi had nine goals in his previous five games for Argentina, but he couldn't add to his tally here.
Juventus and Italy legend Alessandro Del Piero will play for Sydney FC next season. The 37-year-old was released at the end of last season after 19 years at Turin and had been linked with moves to various clubs, including English Premier League side Southampton and Scotland's Celtic.
"I'll do this with enthusiasm of someone who is doing something new and who wants to do it well," said Del Piero, who added that he would "live fully" his time in Australia and not "as a long vacation" from Italy.
Del Piero, who won six Serie A titles and the Champions League with Juventus, has signed a contract Australian media have reported is worth A 2 million Dollars - making him the best paid player in any football code in the country.
Del Piero will play with the same Number 10 he donned at Juventus, Tony Pignata, Sydney's general manager, said in Turin.
"This signing is a major coup for Sydney FC and marks a historic day for football in this country," club chairman Scott Barlow said in a statement. "This is for all Australian football fans".
Soccer's popularity in Australia trails behind the rival football codes of rugby league and Australian Rules in the congested domestic market place.
With most of Australia's best players plying their trade abroad, the top flight A-League has suffered from lack of star quality since it was launched for the 2005-6 season.
Former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke, England striker Robbie Fowler and Socceroos John Aloisi, Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton were among the best known players to have graced the league before Del Piero's signing.
Two time champions Sydney FC will take on Wellington Phoenix in their A League opener on October 6.
Morgan Brian scored in the first half and Kealia Ohai added another after the break as the U.S. advanced to the final for the third time, having won the tournament in 2002 and 2008.
"It was a difficult match physically," U.S. coach Steve Swanson said. "Nigeria gave us all we could handle and a little more. Getting that first goal was key for us."
Brian opened the scoring with a header in the 22nd minute and Ohai doubled the lead in the 70th, taking a through ball from Samantha Mewis and beating Nigeria's goalkeeper Ibubeleye Whyte with a right-foot shot from 12 meters (yards).
Nigeria pressed forward after the second goal but the Americans denied them a chance to get back in the game.
"I thought our back four did a very good job of keeping possession and allowing us to get out of our end," Swanson said.
Germany, looking to become the first team to win consecutive titles, scored three goals in the opening 20 minutes in beating host Japan 3-0.
Melanie Leupolz opened the scoring in the first minute when she took a pass from Dzsenifer Marozsan and beat Japan goalkeeper Sakiko Ikeda with an angled right-foot shot.
Marozsan doubled the lead in the 13th with a lob over the head of Ikeda and Lena Lotzen made it 3-0 with a header in the 19th for her sixth goal of the tournament.
Nigeria will face Japan for the third place on Saturday before the U.S. meets Germany in the final.
Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla both scored their first goals for Arsenal in a comfortable 2-0 win at Anfield yesterday.
After two 0-0 draws following the sale of Robin van Persie to Manchester United, there were raised questions over Arsenal's firepower but Podolski answered them with an emphatic finish before halftime to put the visitors in charge.
Spaniard Cazorla sealed the points after 67 minutes to leave Liverpool's new manager Brendan Rodgers reflecting on the club's worst start to a league season for 50 years.
Arsenal, who are yet to concede a goal this season, moved up to seventh in the fledgling Premier League table with five points while Liverpool languish fourth from bottom after two defeats and a draw.
Arsene Wenger's latest incarnation showed encouraging signs at Anfield as the Gunners swept to their first victory of the season with plenty to spare.
"The sharpness gets better from game to game but overall we looked solid and scored two goals," Wenger said. "We missed opportunities on the counter-attack at the start of the game but we had a convincing team performance," he added.
Both sides struggled to find any rhythm early on. Liverpool enjoyed plenty of possession but lacked any goal threat with Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini running around to little effect.
Arsenal were content to bide their time and wait for a mistake and it arrived after 31 minutes when Steven Gerrard's stray pass allowed the visitors to launch a devastating counter-attack that ended with Cazorla picking out Germany striker Podolski to finish with an angled drive across Pepe Reina.
Liverpool responded with Raheem Sterling firing a shot against the outside of the post from a narrow angle although Arsenal should have doubled their lead when Podolski's strike partner Olivier Giroud, another new signing, skewed a shot wide.
The pattern continued after the break with Arsenal looking comfortable at the back and incisive up front. Rodgers replaced the ineffective Fabio Borini with Stewart Downing, meaning Liverpool were chasing an equaliser with only one recognised striker on the pitch - hardly a ringing endorsement of the club's transfer window dealings.
The home side's fate was sealed with just over 20 minutes remaining when the impressive Cazorla put it past a clueless Pepe Reina.
Robin van Persie made up for a penalty miss by scoring his first hat trick for the Red Devils with two late goals in Manchester United's dramatic 3-2 win at Southampton on Sunday, earning them a second straight win in the Premier League.
Van Persie's late show, which took him to 100 Premier League goals in 197 games, will have come as a mighty relief for the Netherlands striker, after his impudent chipped penalty was clawed away by goalkeeper Kelvin Davis in the 68th minute.
The score was 2-1 to Southampton at the time and United looked headed for a second loss in three games before Van Persie's goals.
"I don't know what I was thinking with the penalty. I was going to hit it hard but at the last second I changed my mind," Van Persie said. "I'm quite disappointed about it. I ask certain standards from my game and at 2-1 down you cannot take a penalty like that."
Ferguson, famous for what the British media calls the "hairdryer treatment" in the dressing room when his team or player underperforms, was all smiles after the match despite Van Persie's error of judgment.
"I was surprised because every time I've seen him take a penalty he usually rattles it into the corners, so I was confident," Ferguson said. "But he made up for it."
Having started the season with a 1-0 loss at Everton, this win lifted United up to fifth place on six points, one behind neighbor and reigning champion Manchester City and three behind early leader Chelsea.
