Brazil reached the last four of the Copa América with a 4-3 penalty shootout win over Paraguay after their compelling quarter-final in Porto Alegre ended scoreless.
Gabriel Jesus got the winning kick for Brazil after Gustavo Gómez and Derlis González missed for the visitors. Roberto Firmino pulled his spot kick wide for the hosts.
Brazil, who have yet to concede a goal in their first four games,
will next face the winner of Friday’s quarter-final between Argentina
and Venezuela in Belo Horizonte next Tuesday.
Jesus had missed a penalty against Peru in their last group game and
said he went back to his tried and tested technique on Thursday.
“In the last game I didn’t look at the keeper and I hit it hard
straight away and the goalie made a good save,” he said. “Today I did it
my usual way, I looked calmly at the keeper and I could see him moving
to the left and I side-footed it the other way.”
After a foul strewn and unexciting first half, Brazil took control
when Fabián Balbuena was sent off in the 58th minute for fouling Firmino
as he bore down on goal. The referee gave a penalty but changed it to a
free kick on the edge of the area after consulting the video assistant
referee.
The sending off then saw the home side lay siege to the Paraguayan
goal but without joy, Everton seeing a shot deflected over the bar,
Jesus pulling a gilt-edged chance wide, and Willian hitting the post in
the last minute.
“We created lots and lots of chances, the ball hit the woodwork, the
goalkeeper worked miracles, but the fans helped us and we never gave
up,” said midfielder Arthur.
“We know what football is like, it’s about small details, and we
couldn’t win but we felt the good energies and we managed to get through
on penalties.”
Goalkeeper Alisson, who like Arthur started his career in Porto Alegre, saluted his teammates.
“This is a team that deserved the win today,” Alisson said. “It was a
draw but against a team that didn’t want to play unless it was on the
counter attack. We’ve gone up one step, two more to go to our objective,
to be Copa América champions.”
In the other two quarter-finals, Colombia play Chile and Uruguay take on Peru.
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