An excellent Luis Suarez strike in the 12th minute followed by a brace from Diego Forlan led Uruguay to their 15th Copa America title on Sunday night. Uruguay have now surpassed Argentina as the most successful team in the competition's history and have shown their semi-final showing at the FIFA World Cup last year was definitely no flash in the pan. The Final failed to live up to its billing and was completely dominated by Uruguay, who had as many as eight shots on target as compared to just one from Paraguay.
The first half started as expected, with the lively duo of Suarez and Forlan running riot amongst the Paraguayan defence. La Celeste almost took the lead after just two minutes, when the wily Suarez attempted a shot after bamboozling two defenders, only to see the ball being turned behind for a corner by opposition goalkeeper Justo Villar. They came close to breaking the deadlock once again from the resulting corner, but were prevented from doing so when defender Diego Lugano's goal bound header was stopped by Nestor Ortigoza on the line using what looked like his arm. Uruguay, however, did not relent and got their due a few minutes later as a deflected shot fell fortuitously to Suarez inside the box and he slotted home a quick left footed shot past Villar.
Copa America
Paraguay incredibly made the finals of the Copa America on Thursday, beating underdogs Venezuela 5-3 on penalties after nothing could seperate the two sides over 120 minutes of frankly sub-standard football. If anything, Venezuela deserved to win it more, as they were denied by the woodwork on three occasions, but eventually lost out after Franklin Lucena's penalty was kept out by Paraguay number one Justo Villar. Venezuela were worthy competitors, and for most of the game looked the better side, but their opponents' added experience during the penalty shootout was enough to take them though to Buenos Aires where they will face Uruguay in Sunday's showpiece. Paraguay's victory from the 12-yard spot also meant that they still hadn't won a game in regular time in the competition yet, an amazing statistic for a team making the final of a major tournament.
Uruguay strolled past the thus-far battling team of the tournament, Peru, to book their place in the Copa America Final on Sunday. A second half brace from Luis Suarez propelled them to a win and they now have the chance to eclipse Argentina as the Tournament's undisputed record holders, being currently tied with the Argentinians on 14 crowns as CONMEBOL's finest.