In South America’s bi-annual soccer contest, Brazil, a perennial favorite, and Chile, many’s expected winner, have lost their respective games Sunday.
Uruguay will play Peru in the semifinals on Tuesday. Paraguay faces Venezuela Wednesday. This is the first time that Venezuela has advanced to the semifinals in the history of the Copa America.
This now means that the fan favorites, Argentina and Brazil are out of the tournament.
Brazil lost to Paraguay on penalty kicks, 2-0 after regulation was a 0-0 tie in La Plata, Argentina–where the game was played. Brazil was incapable of capitalizing on any of the penalty kicks during the shoot-out. While Marcelo Estigarriba and Cristian Riveros scored their attempts for Paraguay, three of Brazil’s chances went wide and one was saved by Paraguay’s goalkeeper, José Luis Chilavert.
Later on Sunday Chile experienced a loss of their own to Venezuela. This is the first time that Venezuela is in the semifinals of the Copa America. And it came off of two goals in the regular time, and a final score of 2-1. The Venezuelans received their points from Oswaldo Vizcarrondo, in the 34 minute, and Gabriel Cichero, in the 80 minute. Chile tied it up in the 69 minute, and applied enough pressure throughout the game to have several chances at a goal, but was unable to win.
Brazil as well nearly won, but was This comes after a disappointing first round for the team. They were unable to win in their first matches and nearly were knocked out, but after an impressive 4-2 win over Ecuador in Group B they looked like the Brazil of old, and primed to move forward with the tournament.
The upcoming games were unexpected, but that does not keep the prognosticators from predicting their outcomes. In the Peru Uruguay game, many believe that Uruguay will win over Peru. In 2010 Uruguay played well in the world cup, and this time around their goalkeeper, Fernando Muslera, has been crucial in winning their games.
Uruguay, defeating the heavily favored Argentina, won much in the same way Venezuela did over Brazil, with strong defense, great goalkeeping and calm penalty kicks.
Venezuela is set to play Paraguay, and has a strong chance to win that match. However, as one fan said earlier, “soccer isn’t logical.”
This year’s Copa America has proven that.
The Copa America can be seen live here.