The preliminaries are over - and the big guns bared their teeth over the weekend in the Copa America Quarter-Finals.On Saturday :
Uruguay 4-1 Venezuela (HT 1-1)
Uruguay were too strong for hosts Venezuela, taking an early lead in the first half although the home side did peg it back just before halftime.
However, in the second half Uruguay showed their class with a well taken second goal and then a pair of goals late on inflated the score to a lopsided 4-1 margin.
Brazil 6-1 Chile (HT 3-0)
In the second game Brazil demonstrated some great power and precision to defeat Chile for the second time in the tournament - but more than that they managed to send a warning that the "Samba Swagger" was back.
Brazil took the lead after 14 minutes when Bayer Leverkusen defender Juan took advantage of a static Chilean defence to head home Maicon's corner.
Six minutes later, Maicon won the ball in the midfield and fed Vagner Love, who in turn found Julio Batista and the forward made no mistake from inside the box.
Robinho then made it 3-0 after some good individual work resulted in a measured finish from the edge of area.
Robinho grabbed his second of the game on 51 minutes as the Real Madrid forward applied the finish to Gilberto Silva's cross after the Chilean defence had once again gone missing.
It was 5-0 after 68 minutes when Chile keeper Claudio Bravo parried Afonso's shot but was powerless to stop Josue converting the rebound.
Chile did bag a consolation goal eight minutes later when striker Humberto Suazo cleverly lobbed the ball over but Vagner Love completed the rout right at the death after good approach work from Elano.
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On Sunday :
Mexico 6-0 Paraguay (HT 3-0)
Mexico made a huge impact on the Copa America with this 6-0 thrashing of Paraguay, although their task was made easier by the 2nd minute dismissal of Paraguayian keeper Aldo Bobadilla when a woeful back-pass from Julio Cesar Caceres allowed Nery Castillo to get a clear run on goal which was crudely halted by Bobadilla.
Bobadilla was shown the red card and Castillo slotted home the spot-kick past replacement custodian Joel Zayas.
The second goal came in the 26th minute when Juan Carlos Cacho burst through midfield without a challenge before laying the ball off to Gerardo Torrado and his rising drive flew past the helpless Zayas.
Twelve minutes later, Castillo proved why he has been one of the Copa America's outstanding performers with his fourth goal of the tournament - a fine volley from the edge of the area.
A late flurry of goals in the final 11 minutes blew out the score - but this match was dead and buried by halftime.
Argentina 4-0 Peru (HT 0-0)
Argentina showed some real steel in the second half of the final Copa America quarter-final with their big players getting on the scoreboard.
Goals from Riquelme (47, 85), Messi (62) and Mascherano (75) meant that the Argentine side fired back their own warning message - as they completed the set of four big victories.
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Semi-final matches :
Brazil now face Uruguay in Maracaibo on Tuesday for a place in the Copa America final while Argentina will play Mexico.
