The highlights of the match were the impressive performance of the Paraguayan goalkeeper Roberto “Gatito” Fernandez and Fabian Balbuena being given the red card for knocking down Roberto Firmino in the 58th minute.
Brazil football. (Photo: Twitter/@CopaAmerica)
Eight-time Copa America champions, Brazil defeated Paraguay 4-3 in penalty shootout to make it to the semi-finals of the 46th edition of the mega event on Friday (IST). In the full-time, neither of the two teams could score a goal forcing the match to go for penalties.
For the Brazilian side, Willian, Marquinhos, Philippe Coutinho and Gabriel Jesus were successful in converting their shots into goals with the latter sealing the things off by the winning shot.
For Paraguay, Gustavo Gomez missed the first shot while Miguel Almiron, Bruno Valdez and Rodrigo Rojas managed to shoot into the net. However, Derlis Gonzalez missed the last attempt, which led to Brazil’s victory.
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The highlights of the match were the impressive performance of the Paraguayan goalkeeper Roberto “Gatito” Fernandez and Fabian Balbuena being given the red card for knocking down Roberto Firmino in the 58th minute. This led Paraguay to play with 10 men in the final half-hour.
Paraguay retreated from that moment back into its own half of the pitch and attempted to maintain an agonizing defence against the repeated attacks by Brazil. Brazil’s Willian put a brilliant shot in the 90th minute which passed Paraguayan goalkeeper Fernandez but to the 30-year-old’s poor luck, the ball hit the post and came back.
After the stipulated time, the match ended without any goals and the sides went straight to the shootout to determine the winner. And that is where Brazil inched Paraguay by a one-goal difference.
According to the tournament’s rules, the traditional 30-minute overtime following a draw does not apply until the semi-finals.
Brazil — who last won Copa America in 2007 — will face either Argentina or Venezuela in a semifinal in Belo Horizonte on 3 July, Wednesday (IST).
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