Paraguay advance to Copa America final

MENDOZA, Argentina: Paraguay, winless in all of their five matches so far, advanced to the Copa America final against Uruguay by beating Venezuela in a penalty shootout on Wednesday following a goalless draw.

Matches that are tied after 120 minutes are officially ties, with the shootout only deciding which team advances, or in the case of a final game — which team wins the title.

Paraguay won the shootout 5-3; the only miss coming when Justo Villar stopped Franklin Lucena’s shot. Dario Veron netted the final spot-kick as Venezuela, known more for its baseball, came up just short of reaching the final of the South American competition for the first time.

“We’ve had some luck in these past few days and we had it again today. Clearly we have to improve,” Villar told reporters afterwards.

“We’ve got five or six injured players, another player suspended and we can’t go into the final and do the same as we’ve done in the last few days. Playing for another goalless draw and waiting for the penalties would be too much.”

Two-time champions Paraguay will now meet Uruguay, chasing a record 15th title, in Sunday’s final in Buenos Aires.

With the 45,000-capacity Malvinas Argentinas stadium less than half-full on a cold night, those fans on hand saw a game of few scoring opportunities before Venezuela’s extra-time flourish.

Venezuela hit the woodwork three times in their first semifinal appearance and had a goal questionably ruled out for offside.

Paraguay also finished with ten men, playing the final 20 minutes of the extra half-hour shorn of the red-carded Jonathan Santana for a second bookable offence.

No sooner had they started the second period of extra-time than Veron should have suffered the same fate, for head-butting Nicolas Fedor.

Inexplicably, Mexican referee Francisco Chacon dubbed the incident only worthy of yellow.

That only served to deepen the sense of injustice for the Venezuelans and tempers boiled over at the end with a mass scuffle between both team’s benches to mar the occasion.

Venezuela coach Cesar Farias was emotional afterwards, saying his side could not be blamed for fraying tempers.

“We never look to provoke incidents,” Farias insisted.

“We came here convinced we could get through. We are not afraid of anybody and we go home with our heads held high — we cannot reproach anyone. We lost to an experienced rival.”

And he insisted that his country deserved more respect after proving they are no pushovers, this shootout being their only defeat of the event.

“Now the whole world knows that in South America there’s another team that’s got quality,” Farias added.

“Maybe we can make up for the prize we’d hoped to win here by qualifying for the World Cup in 2014.”

When the two sides met in the first phase a week ago they served up the match of the tournament to date with Venezuela snatching a 3-3 draw, coming from 3-1 down with two goals in the dying minutes.

This time it was a far different affair — yet the Venezuelans will wonder how they did not win long before the spot kick drama after a host of near misses with Villar at times living a charmed life.

Paraguay were again without striker Roque Santa Cruz, who had already missed the quarter-final against Brazil because of a muscle injury in his right leg. The powerful striker came on as a substitute in the 73rd minute, but only lasted seven minutes before having to go off.

Venezuela then suddenly came alive and hit the woodwork twice in three minutes.

Giancarlo Maldonado’s shot struck his team mate Nicolas Fedor and bounced back off the inside of Villar’s right hand post and then Juan Arango’s left-foot freekick hit the same post before being cleared from danger.

Yet the goal would not come and in the shootout Venezuela’s dream died as Lucena saw his effort saved.