Paraguay came through a penalty shootout to see off Venezuela 5-3 after a dour Copa America semi-final ended goalless in Mendoza.
With so much on the line many would have expected the game to be very cagey in the opening stages but it was quite the opposite as both sides were playing at a frantic pace and it was all very open in the first ten minutes or so.
Paraguay came very close to opening the scoring after just eight minutes as Edgar Barreto whipped in a free-kick from the right flank which was met in the air by Dario Veron who bizarrely was completely unmarked about 12 yards out, his header had power but Renny Vega got behind it well and turned it behind for a corner.Barreto himself had a half decent chance as a poor clearance fell to him on the edge of the box but his first-time volley ballooned well over the bar.The game settled down to a much more sustainable pace after quarter of an hour and chances were at a premium for much of the half.
The Venezuelen captain Juan Arango suffered an ankle injury half an hour in and it looked like he may have to go off, he soldiered on but his delivery from set-pieces was very poor from then on and he looked to be hampered by it.Paraguay were having the better of the half but Venezuela came back into it in dramatic fashion with 10 minutes left of the first-half.
A deep cross from the right found Gabriel Cichero at the back post, he nodded the ball back across to Oswaldo Vizcarrondo who bulleted a header past Justo Villar and into the net.Unfortunately for Venezuela the header had taken the smallest of deflections off Salomon Rondon before reaching the goal and the forward was in an offside position so the effort was ruled out.Venezuela seemed to be buoyed by this though and on 42 minutes they very nearly had the ball in the net twice more.
Firstly a fantastic Alejandro Moreno header from the penalty spot hit the crossbar with Villar beaten and Rondon pounced on the rebound but the keeper was alert enough to be ready and made a great save from the second effort.
With Venezuela dominating the latter stages of the first 45 minutes, Paraguay were happy to hear the half-time whistle.The second 45 minutes were an absolute durge as both teams were terrified to attack in fear of losing the game, Paraguay especially as favourites did not show any initiative and take the game to Venezuela at all.
Having said that Haedo Valdez did have a good chance to break the deadlock after a defensive mix-up saw him in on goal, it was from a tight angle though and Vega blocked it fairly comfortably.That was really the only action of note of the second half as it petered out and the game slipped in to extra-time.If the second half had been a bore, extra-time was anything but as substitute Miku and then Arango hit the woodwork within five minutes of the restart.Miku`s effort was a deflection of a Giancarlo Maldonado shot which beat Vilalr but came back off the post, Arango`s was a long-range drive which rattled the crossbar, Paraguay`s goal was living a charmed life.
Paraguay`s life got even tougher just before the extra-time break as Jonathan Santana received his marchingorders after going in late on Rondon and picking up a second yellow card for his troubles.
Venezuela continued to push hard in the final 15 minutes but could not find the break they needed and the match went all the way to penalties.You could see why Paraguay were happy for the game to go to spot kicks as their players produced a master-class of penalty taking giving Vega no chance at all in saving any of them.Unfortunately you could not say the same about Franklin Lucena who was the only one to miss a spot-kick as his tame effort was easily saved by Villar.
Dario Veron stepped up to convert the winning kick making it 5-3 to Paraguay and sending them into the final.
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