Venezuela are level 1-1 at half-time against Uruguay in the first quarter final in the Copa América 2007 in San Cristóbal on Saturday. An opening goal from Villarreal striker Diego Forlan for Uruguay was cancelled out by a superb free-kick from Real Mallorca’s Juan Arango just two minutes later.

Uruguay started the match in command, with Villarreal striker Diego Forlán having two chances to open the scoring in the opening ten minutes.

The best chance was after Cristian Gabriel Rodríguez cut the ball back to the Vilarreal striker, who scuffed his shot straight at the Venezuelan keeper Renny Vicente Vega.

Venezuela Hector Gonzalez made a good run, crossing the ball to Juan Arango, who cut back to have a close-range shot on goal, which was well blocked by Fabián Carini in the Uruguay goal.

Maldonado had a chance in the 15th minute, which was well offside as Venezuela began to get into the match.

Uruguay still were the team attacking, with Recoba and Forlan earning a host of corners, but the hosts defending well to block any shots.

Jorge Rojas was causing all kinds of problems down the left-wing for Venezuela, with his pace easily taking him past the ‘La Celeste’ defence, but his crosses, although decent, failed to get contact from his teammates.

Forlán had another superb opportunity just before the half-hour mark, when Rodríguez made another excellent run into the Venezuela penalty-area, finding Forlán, whose shot went well wide of goal.

As the half drew to a close the game started being broken up by unnecessary free-kicks being given away by both sides, with one of these, a quickly taken free-kick which led to the opening goal in the 38th minute.

The kick was taken from the halfway line, with Forlan breaking fast and beating the Venezuelan offside trap, sliding his shot past Vega to make it 1-0.

Just two minutes later Real Mallorca star Juan Arango levelled from another free-kick, with a long-range left-footed strike that deflected slightly off the wall to fly past Fabián Carini in the Uruguay goal to level the score.

The half finished 1-1, with the hosts ending the half on a high after having only been behind for two minutes. Uruguay, in contrast, seemed deflated after having been in command of the first-half and thinking they were well on their way to the semi-finals.

Full Starting Line-ups for Venezuela v Uruguay - Copa América 2007 Quarter Final:
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Venezuela 1 - 4 Uruguay - Copa América 2007 Quarter Final Report:
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