Both teams had upset the odds to come this far, so it was a pleasant clash to decide who got the bronze medals. Although this time the underdogs wouldn't come out on top.
Once again, Paraguay get a repeat of their group stages. First time out against Brazil, they had had the better of the game; in the quarter final, they had lucked out to get through on penalties. First time out against Venezuela, they had been frustrated by their opponents, getting ahead through set-pieces then conceding late on from one themselves; this time, they improved on their initial performance, but still had to wait for panlties.
Venezuela woke up in the semi-finals of the Copa America for the first time in their history this morning after a frantic second half in San Juan saw them conquer the fancied Chileans of Claudio Borghi.
Eight days before, Paraguay had outplayed Brazil only for a late goal from Fred to rescue the Selecao a point. However, only one side could get out of this quarter final with anything, and that team was Paraguay.
Almost ten years to the day after Colombia defeated Peru 3 - 0 at the same stage in 2001, Peru have successfully navigated a quarter final in the Copa America after being defeated at the same round in the four previous tournaments.
The last match of what has generally been a rather poor group stage rounds off what had actually been a great evening of football, hopefully boding well for the rest of the Copa America.
With usual whipping boys Venezuela already through, the game looked fairly well set up for Paraguay to get an easy win to guarantee their progress to the quarter-finals - one needed with a wounded Brazil desperate for a win later against Ecuador. A goal from Salomon Rondon four minutes in suggested we probably shouldn't make assumptions.