The Hindu : Sport / Football : Brazil, Uruguay sail into semifinals

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Monday, Jul 09, 2007
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Brazil, Uruguay sail into semifinals

Robinho, Forlan excel for their respective sides

SAN CRISTOBAL (Venezuela): Uruguay rolled over host Venezuela and Brazil routed Chile to reach the semifinals of the Copa America football tournament here on Saturday.

Uruguay crushed Venezuela’s dreams with a 4-1 demolition.

Diego Forlan grabbed a brace, while Pablo Garcia and Cristian Rodriguez were also on target in the last eight encounter as Oscar Tabarez’s men gatecrashed the party of 40,000 people packed into San Cristobal’s Pueblo Nuevo Stadium.

The result came as even more of a surprise given the fact the two sides had played out a goalless draw just four days earlier and Uruguay had scored only one goal in finishing third in Group ‘A’.

Another mismatch

In another one-sided contest, Robinho scored twice as Brazil crushed Chile 6-1. Brazil, under fire for its lacklustre performances in the group stage, went ahead in the 15th minute when Juan rose unchallenged in a crowded penalty to head in from a corner at the far post.

Julio Baptista and Robinho added two more before the half hour as Brazil equalled its 3-0 win over the same opponent in the group stage.

Six minutes into the second half, Gilberto’s cross from the left evaded the Chile defence and Robinho tapped in at the far post.

Midfielder Josue then notched up his first goal for Brazil in the 69th minute to make it 5-0.

Chile’s consolation was also the best goal of the game as Humberto Suazo flicked the ball through Gilberto’s legs and scored with a delicate chip over Doni in the 76th minute.

Vagner Love completed the scoring 10 minutes later after a one-two with Elano.

In control

The Uruguayans dominated much of the first half of their match and created several chances. Pablo Garcia was the first to test goalkeeper Ronnie Vega with a long-range effort before Maximiliano Pereira drew a good save from the Venezuelan custodian.

The host then threatened through Ricardo Paez, but the midfielder’s attempt went straight into the hands of Fabian Carini before striker Juan Arango sent a header narrowly wide.

However, Forlan opened the scoring after 37 minutes, when he was picked out by Diego Garcia in the box and beat Vega with a powerful strike.

Hitting back

But Venezuela hit back almost immediately as, three minutes later, Mallorca star Juan Arango found the back of the net with a superb free-kick to send the sides level at the break.

After a long exchange of ineffective counterattacks, a charging Pablo Garcia drove a shot from the area’s half circle into the right corner of the net to help Uruguay regain the lead in the 65th minute.

Rodriguez buried Uruguay’s third goal past goalkeeper Renny Vega after 87 minutes after the Venezuelan offence lost momentum, and Forlan’s second goal came in injury time.

The results: (quarterfinals): Brazil 6 (Juan 15, Julio Baptista 21, Robinho 28, 51, Josue 69, Vagner Love 86) bt Chile 1 (Humberto Suazo 76); Venezuela 1 (Juan Arango 41) lost to Uruguay 4 (Diego Forlan 38, 90+2, Pablo Garcia 65, Crist ian Rodriguez 87). — Agencies