Brazil have beaten Uruguay 5-4 in a penalty-shootout in the Copa América 2007 Semi Final at the Stadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo, after the game finished 2-2 after normal time, with Brazil now in the final against either Mexico or Argentina.

Brazil and Inter Milan defender Maicon opened the scoring, with former Man Utd striker Diego Forlan levelling, but Brazil going into half-time with a 2-1 lead with a strike from former Arsenal forward Julio Baptista. Uruguay took the game to penalties after substitute Sebastián Abreu levelled in the second half.

Both teams came out in the early stages with huge intent, but with Brazil shading the possession in the opening minutes.

Brazil took an early lead when Brazil defender Maicon broke the deadlock in the 13th minute after continuing his run from defence and latching on to a save from Robinho's shot by Uruguay keeper Fabián Carini, volleying home his first-ever goal for his country.

One bank of floodlights in the Stadio José Pachencho Romero failed minutes later, with the referee deciding to stop play and wait for the floodlights to be fixed before recommencing the match, which took thirteen minutes, by which time Uruguay had reformed.

Diego Forlan almost equalised in the 28th minute after breaking through the Brazilian defence and smashing his shot from 20-yards into the top-corner, with Doni leaping brilliantly to deny Uruguay the leveller.

Uruguay had a string of set-pieces as the half went on, giving Brazil a host of problems in defence, with Alvaro Recoba forcing Doni into another fine diving-save as the equilibrium was recovered.

Maicon and Robinho were working very well together, with virtually every Seleçao move coming from the right-flank with, inevitably, Maicon at the heart of the build-up.

Brazil had a vague penalty call in the 34th minute after Maicon squared the ball to Vagner Love, who went down in front of the goal, but the referee waved the call away.

Recoba’s set-pieces were beginning to find their way through the Brazil defence, and finally the scores were levelled with a wonderful volley from Villarreal CF forward Diego Forlan 15-yards out from goal which flew into Doni’s right corner.

Brazil, against the run of play, re-took the lead in the 40th minute after capitalising on one of their few free-kicks, with the excellent Maicon yet again involved.

His free-kick from wide was directed into the Uruguay penalty area, with former Arsenal striker Julio Baptista breaking the offside trap to volley the ball home past Carini to make it 2-0.

Despite Uruguay having dominated since the re-start after the light failure, Brazil went into half-time in better spirits, but with Uruguay having bossed the match for equal periods of the half.

The second-half saw Uruguay make two changes. Ignacio María González came on for Alvaro Recoba and Sebastián Abreu for Dario Rodríguez, which took some time for the team to settle to, but still Uruguay’s La Celeste had the upper-hand in the match, although it was in no way one-way traffic.

Substitute Sebastián Abreu levelled in the 71st minute, scoring his 16th goal in 31 appearances for Uruguay as the fifteen-time champions took the game to the current Copa América holders in the second-half.

Jorge Ciro Fucile played the ball to Cristian Gabriel Rodríguez on the goal-line, who managed to keep the ball in play and passed it to Abreu, who struck at close range, deflecting off Doni to make it 2-2.

There was another contentious penalty call from Brazil after substitute Afonso, who came on for Vagner Love in the 80th minute, was brought down by Diego Alfredo Lugano, but yet again the call was waved away by the Colombian referee.

Both sides continued to press as the second-half came to a close, with a penalty shootout looming, both sides became nervous, with Brazil’s Gilberto Silva receiving a booking which means that he is suspended for the final.

The match finished 2-2 with penalties to decide on the finalists.

Brazil’s star striker Robinho took the first penalty, despatching it easily past Carini, Forlan missed Uruguay's first, Doni saving with his legs, with Juan scoring Brazil's second to give them the advantage.

Uruguay’s Andrés Scotti scored Uruguay’s second penalty, with Gilberto Silva, who is suspended for the final, blasting his penalty home past the Uruguay keeper to give Dunga's team the advantage.

After a miss from Brazil, Cristian Gabriel Rodríguez levelled at 3-3 to increase the pressure on the Copa América holders, with Diego scoring his for Brazil and then Sebastian Abreu scoring his spot-kick for Uruguay.

Fernando then missed for Brazil to give Pablo Gabriel Garcia a chance to seal it for Uruguay, but his shot came off the post to open things up yet again.

It was the Uruguay skipper Diego Lugano who was the unfortunate player to miss first when it came to sudden death, with his miss giving Brazil, who were lacklustre for large parts of the match, a vital semi-final win over their South American counterparts.

Uruguay, who performed magnificently to come back twice in the match, now have a chance to redeem themselves in the third-place play-off, to be played in Caracas on Saturday, with the loser of the other semi-final facing them.

Teamsheets for Uruguay v Brazil - Copa América 2007 Semi Final:

Uruguay Team: Fabián Carini, Jorge Ciro Fucile, Diego Alfredo Lugano, Darío Rodríguez (Sebastián Abreu, 46), Pablo Gabriel García, Victor Maximiliano Pereira, Andrés Scotti, Diego Pérez (Wálter Alejandro Gargano, 75), Cristian Gabriel Rodríguez, Diego Forlán, Alvaro Recoba (Ignacio María González, 46).

Uruguay substitutes not used: Juan Guillermo Castillo, Carlos Diogo, Diego Godín, Carlos Adrian Valdez, Néstor Fabián Canobbio, Fabián Estoyanoff, Vicente Sánchez, Gonzalo Sebastián Vargas.

Brazil Team: Doni, Maicon, Alex, Gilberto, Juan Silveira dos Santos, Gilberto Silva, Josué (Fernando,73), Mineiro, Julio César Baptista (Diego Ribas da Cunha, 73), Robinho, Vagner Love (Afonso, 80).

Brazil substitutes not used: Helton, Naldo, Kléber, Daniel Alves, Anderson, Elano, Fred.

Referee: Oscar Ruiz (Colombia).