At last, goals galore as Brazil win through

After two cagey rounds of games at the Copa America, save for Argentina’s swatting of Costa Rica, the championship burst into life on Wednesday as Brazil hit four goals against Ecuador to reach the quarter-finals.

While the samba stars were finally getting their act together with a 4-2 win thanks to doubles from Neymar and Pato their Group B rivals Venezuela, not to be outdone, served up even more of a thriller in sharing six goals with Paraguay.

In the shakeout of those two results, reigning champions Brazil won the group by the scruff of their necks, by a goal difference of plus two to plus one for the Venezuelans, who came back from two goals down against the Paraguayans to score twice in stoppage time and preserve their unbeaten record.

The Brazilians, who were in ominous attacking mode from the start, will on Sunday face the Paraguayans, who go through as one of the two best third-placed finishers.

Venezuela will take on Chile, hosts Argentina meet Uruguay in a battle at Santa Fe between two sides with 14 crowns apiece, to eight for Brazil, while 2001 champions Colombia joust with Peru at Cordoba.

“That was the game we wanted to play. We wanted to win and to take top spot,” said Pato.

“When we lose we all lose and when we win we all win together. The whole team played really well – it’s a great result,” added the Milan striker.

If Brazil’s win had the fans breathless, it was nothing compared with three goals in the final eight minutes at Salta as Venezuela came back from the dead to bag a draw to claim second spot.

Paraguay’s ‘Guarani’ appeared well on their way to the top of the group after goals from Antolin Alcaraz on the half hour and then Lucas Barrios and Christian Riveros after the break put them 3-1 to the good, recovering from a fourth-minute Venezuelan opener from Salomon Rondon.

But in an astonishing finale, Nicolas Fedor levelled on 90 minutes and Grenddy Perozo then netted with a diving header three minutes into stoppage time after keeper Renny Vega had joined the attack and headed the ball down for him.

“We thought this would be a very difficult group, that maybe we might go through – but in third place. But we came through unbeaten,” said proud coach Cesar Farias.

Quarter-Finals

Colombia vs Peru; Argentina vs Uruguay; Brazil vs Paraguay; Chile vs Venezuela.