Pedro Rodriguez's spectacular first-half goal led Barcelona to a 1-0 win over Almeria to maintain the Spanish champion's unbeaten start to the season. Pedro took a pass from Maxwell at the top of the area in the 31st before swiveling to fire a hard shot beyond goalkeeper Diego Alves into the far top corner. Barcelona's sixth straight win gave it 18 points, three more than undefeated Real Madrid, which can keep pace with its arch-rival with a victory at Sevilla Sunday. Atletico Madrid late Saturday avoided starting the first six games of the season without a victory for the first time in club history when it beat Beat Real Zaragoza 2-1. Earlier Saturday, Diego Colotto scored from a corner in the 60th as Deportivo La Coruna beat Tenerife 1-0 for the Galician club to join third-place Sevilla on 12 points. Almeria's bruising play early on drew the ire of the Camp Nou crowd but did little to slow Barcelona's offense - missing Thierry Henry for the second straight game - which spent much of the game inside its opponent's half thanks to Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta. Pedro was unlucky not to score in the 18th after volleying Zlatan Ibrahimovic's floating cross on goal, as Alves got his foot out to deflect it off the post. A minute later, Xavi Hernandez headed Daniel Alves' cross over with no one but the Almeria goalkeeper to beat. Brazil beats Australia 3-1 Brazil beat Australia 3-1 in their final group game at the Under-20 World Cup despite fielding a largely reserve side having already qualified for the knockout phase. The Czech Republic, however, came from behind to beat Costa Rica 3-2, but Costa Rica still reached the knockout stage on goal difference. Costa Rica finished with three points in Group C and a goal difference of minus-3 to take the final place in the last 16 as one of the best four third-placed teams. The United States also finished on three points and minus-3 but scored one goal less than Costa Rica (4-5) and failed to qualify for the knockout phase. In the earlier matches Hungary beat the UAE 2-0 to advance into the knockout round as winner of Group F. South Africa beat Honduras 2-0 in Group F's other game and also progressed into the last 16.
