Brazil exit Copa America after four penalty misses

BRAZIL missed four penalties to be dumped out of the Copa America by Paraguay in a quarter-final shoot-out in Argentina today.

An awful match ended 0-0 after extra time.

But if that was bad, it got worse for Brazil as Elano, Thiago Silva, Andre Santos and Fred all missed.

Marcelo Estigarribia and Christian Riveros converted for the Paraguayans, who will play Venezuela in the semi finals after their 2-1 win over Chile today.

Brazil forward Robinho tried to put a positive gloss on the defeat to a side with whom they were fortunate to draw in the group stage just eight days earlier.

"I think we played a good Copa overall. But now we must keep our heads up and go on to lift the World Cup in our homeland," the Milan striker said.

Brazil's exit followed that of hosts Argentina, beaten by Uruguay in a shootout yesterday.




Oswaldo Vizcarrondo put Venezuela ahead in the first half against Chile, Humberto Suazo equalised in the second and Gabriel Cichero scored the winner.

Venezuela, better known for baseball than football, are unbeaten in four games at the Copa America and have been the surprise team in a surprising tournament.

In the semi finals, Peru will meet Uruguay on Wednesday morning (AEST) while Venezuela will face Paraguay on Thursday morning.