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First matches of the Copa America group C. Wins by a narrow margin after intense and dramatic battles were achieved by the national teams of Brazil and Paraguay, respectively defeating Chile and Costa Rica.
Costa Rica - Paraguay 0 - 1 86' Julio Dos Santos
Paraguay's team, composed of U-23 players participating in the Athens Olympics, had a hard time playing against Costa Rica - in the first half, a couple of chances were missed by Ronaldo Gomezas.
However, in the second half, with Dos Santos entering the field, the Paraguayans' game improved, and Carlos Paredes wasted excellent opportunities to score with his head.
It seemed like the match would end in a draw, but with four minutes left, Fredis Bareiro fell in the penalty area and the referee awarded a controversial penalty, which Dos Santos converted.
Brazil - Chile 1 - 0 90' Luis Fabiano
In the 24th minute, Chile could have scored a penalty, which was awarded for a foul by Edu on Rodrigo Valenzuela. Sebastian Gonzalez took advantage of this opportunity, but the referee saw that his teammates entered the penalty area too early and ordered a retake. This seemed to disturb the Chilean forward, and after the second attempt, the ball flew over the crossbar.
Chile did not give up and their counterattacking play caused problems for the Brazilian team, with Rodrigo Perez coming very close to scoring. In the second half, Brazil looked better and Chile's goalkeeper, Alex Varas, had to defend against attempts by Ricardo Oliveira and Luis Fabiano.
However, in the last minute of the match, after a corner kick by Alex, Luis Fabiano scored the winning goal with his head, and the world champions took all three points.
Tonight in the second round of group A matches, Colombia will face Bolivia and Peru will face Venezuela.
