MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay, after a dramatic finale (scuffle included) makes it to Copa America final

Goalkeeper Villar cut short the dream of coach Farías and the Venezuelan revelation

Paraguay beat Venezuela 5-3 on penalties to reach the Copa America final after regulation and extra-time produced a goalless draw. The Wednesday night match played in the Malvinas Argentina stadium of the city of Mendoza ended with a general brawl among some players and assistants.

Paraguay which has not reached a Copa America final since 1979 – and is yet to win a game in normal or extra time in the tournament - will now meet Uruguay, chasing a record 15th title, on Sunday at Buenos Aires Monumental Stadium.

The Paraguayans rode their luck as they ended the surprise run of the Venezuelans, traditional whipping boys at this level, in the cruellest of fashions with Dario Veron hitting the match-winning spot kick.

Venezuela hit the woodwork three times in its first semi-final 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.

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 Paraguayan goalkeeper Justo Villar at times living a charmed life.

“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

Winless Paraguay however has the enviable merit of sending the Brazilian team home after defeating them on penalties in the quarter finals.

Paraguay also brought to a halt the remarkable campaign of Venezuela, long regarded as the weakest side on the continent, they had never before reached the semi-finals. They will now face Peru in La Plata on Saturday in the third-place playoff.

“We were incredibly unlucky but now the whole world knows that in South America there's another team that's got quality,” Venezuela coach Cesar Farias told reporters. “Maybe we can make up for the prize we'd hoped to win here by qualifying for the World Cup in 2014” said the man who led the ‘vinotintos’ (red-wine because of the team’s colour) and also proved a revelation.