Brazil reached the final of the Copa America for the first time since 1999, beating Uruguay 5-3 on penalty kicks following a 1-1 tie Wednesday night.

Brazil advanced to Sunday's South American championship game against Argentina, which beat Colombia 3-0 Tuesday. The Brazilians won when goalkeeper Julio Cesar stopped Vicente Sanchez's penalty kick.

"The best two teams have reached the final," Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said.

Luisao, Luis Fabiano, Adriano, Renato and Alex converted penalty kicks for Brazil, while Dario Silva, goalkeeper Sebastian Viera and Omar Pouso made their kicks for Uruguay.

Uruguay had gone ahead in the 22nd minute of regular when Marcelo Sosa headed in a cross by Javier Delgado on a free kick.

"Uruguay played organized and very aggressive in the beginning, it was a perfect first half," Uruguay coach Jorge Fossati said. "But unfortunately we had to play the shootout at the end, which is always like a lottery."

Adriano, the tournament's leading scorer with six goals, tied the score less than a minute into the second half when he deflecting a low pass from Fabiano into the net from about 6 yards.

Both Brazil, the World Cup champion, and Argentina were missing many of their top players, who were bypassed for the tournament following long European club seasons and tense World Cup qualifiers.

Source: China Daily/Agencies