Copa America 2019: Brazil 0-0 Paraguay (4-3 on penalties) - 3 Talking Points 

The first semifinalist at the ongoing Copa America has been confirmed, after Brazil needed penalties to see off Paraguay in a keenly contested match at the Arena de Gremio Porto Alegre.

In a match that was devoid of goal-scoring opportunities, the hosts did just enough to progress and will now have to wait for either Argentina or Venezuela for their semifinal fixture. In this piece, we shall be highlighting three talking points from the game.

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#3 Brazil show lack of cutting edge

Firmino missed a sitter

Brazil came into this tournament as red hot favorites to lift the trophy for the ninth time in their history and began their sojourn on home soil in impressive fashion, dispatching Bolivia with ease in a convincing 3-0 scoreline.

Their next fixture was less inspiring, as they were held to a goalless draw by Venezuela while a 5-0 thumping of Peru in their final group game brought back smiles to their compatriots.

However in the game against Paraguay, the Samba Boys showed a distinct lack of cutting edge, failing to impose their authority on the Guarani, and this was rather a shame given the sheer amount of attacking talent on display for the country.

While they might have been lacking the services of Everton's Richarlison, who pulled up with a bout of mumps, Brazil still had more than enough arsenal in their armory to see off Eduardo Berizzo's men.

The hosts played like a team and showed great fluidity in their buildup, having 70% of the possession but somehow saw their work crumble whenever they got to the final third, as no matter how hard they tried, they simply could not breakdown a resolute Paraguay back line.

In total, Brazil managed 25 attempts but rather surprisingly, just eight were on target, with most of those eight being target practice for Robert Fernandez. This was a rather disappointing return, given the sheer chunk of possession they owned in the opening 40 minutes or so.

The best chance of the night fell to Roberto Firmino but rather surprisingly, the Liverpool man failed to bury the ball in the back of the net.

Though they ultimately made it to the semifinal, Tite would be hoping that his wards' performance in the match against Paraguay was a one-off, as they might not be let off the hook again moving forward.

#2 Alisson comes to the rescue, again

Alisson stood tall when needed

Alisson was made the most expensive goalkeeper in the world when he signed for Liverpool from Roma and even though he saw his record broken in a matter of weeks by Chelsea (who snapped up Kepa Arrizabalaga), the 26-year-old still proved his worth to The Reds with a number of important and match winning saves.

So far in the Copa America, Alisson has been nothing more than a spectator, as he has rarely been called into action due to Brazil's total dominance. He is yet to concede a goal in the tournament.

Big players step up when required the most, and Alisson did so imperiously. Despite not having too much to do in the opening three fixtures, the shot-stopper was right up to his task whenever called upon in this game.

When the match was ended in a draw with the referee signaling for a penalty shootout, Brazilians would have been forgiven for having an overwhelming sense of deja-vu, as they had seen their nation eliminated at this same stage in the 2011 and 2015 Copa America tournaments by the same opponents on penalty shootouts.

However they needed not worry, as with Alisson between the sticks, they have a distinct advantage over those two teams who got eliminated by Paraguay.

When Gustavo Gomez stepped up for his first penalty kick, Alisson stood tall in goal, showing great confidence and dived well to his left to parry away the shot from the Palmeiras defender.

The importance of this save came to the fore when Derlis Gonzalez played his team's final spot kick wide and even though Brazil had to score their own penalties to go through, Alisson undoubtedly played his part.

#3 Paraguay's physical game plan almost reaps dividends

Paraguay were physical throughout the match

For most of the 90 minutes in Gremio, the match took on the form of a wrestling match as Paraguay seemed to have been given an instruction to hack at anything in yellow.

As expected, Brazil seized the initiative from the get go, launching attack after attack at the Paraguay goal, but they always ran into a brick wall as their visitors seemed to be playing to the maxim of 'missing the ball but not missing the leg'.

There were three yellow cards issued to Paraguayan players inside the first 36 minutes by match referee Tobar Roberto and this seemed to jolt the Brazilian players into action, as they stepped up their physicality a notch or two and dived into their own reckless tackles.

With the rate at which the match progressed, there was always the imminent possibility of a red card being issued and this proved to be the case as Fabian Balbuena was shown his marching orders in the 58th minute.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Paraguay still held on for a draw to head to a penalty shootout, which seemed to be their game plan from the onset as voiced by the commentator because as they say, the lottery of penalty shootouts is anybody's game.

Paraguay showed great resolution (albeit somewhat roughly) to hold Brazil to a stalemate and even though their plan ultimately failed, they can take great pride in their accomplishment.