BELO HORIZONTE (BDCi) – – A Paulinho header goal off a perfect Neymar corner kick in the 86th minute broke a 1-1 tie and ended Uruguay’s bid for a 2013 FIFA Confederation Cup while vaulting Brazil to the final where it can be the first country to win 3 straight Cup championships.
The two South American rivals didn’t threaten the nets much on Wednesday until the 41st minute when Fred bounced in a failed Neymar attempt to get his 3rd goal of the tournament, tying Neymar’s total earned during group play.
Edinson Cavani got Uruguay the equalizer in the 3rd minute of the second half when Brazil’s defense failed to clear an onslaught by Uruguay in the area.
But the tiebreaker came from an unheralded teammate – the Corinthian Paulinho – with 4 minutes to go in regulation time when Neymar punched a corner kick past the mass of players in front of Uruguay’s keeper Fernando Muslera and it appeared directly onto the forehead of the leaping Paulinho who placed the ball easily into the net.
Brazil will move on to face Spain who outlasted Italy in penalty kicks 7-6 in the other semi-final held Thursday in Fortaleza.The final will be held at the famous Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro Sunday at 7pm local time.
“It’s a new team and this is going to help us grow for the World Cup,” Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar said. “We know that we can face a very difficult opponent (and win).”
The two teams meeting in the final Sunday haven’t played each other in almost 14 years with Brazil having the best head to head record at 4-2-2 since 1934.