Paulinho heads Brazil to the final

Brazil are through to the Confederations Cup final after a thrilling 2-1 semifinal victory over South American neighbours Uruguay at the Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte. A late first half goal from Fred was cancelled out by an early second half strike from Edinson Cavani, only to see Paulinho play the role as hero with a late header to win it.
The win for the host nation sets up a possible dream final between Brazil and reigning World and European champions Spain who face Italy in the other semifinal on Thursday.
Brazil head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's 4-2-3-1 formation saw a starting XI with Julio César; Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Marcelo; Paulinho, Luiz Gustavo; Hulk, Oscar, Neymar and Fred. The only change from the Italy contest for Brazil was the reintroduction of Paulinho who had been sidelined with an injury and was replaced last Saturday by Hernanes.
Meanwhile, Uruguay boss Óscar Tabárez countered with a 4-3-3 consisting of Muslera; Pereira, Lugano, Godín, Cáceres; Álvaro González, Arévalo, Cebolla Rodríguez; Edinson Cavani, Diego Forlán and Luis Suárez. Tabárez had the luxury of a well-rested squad making eight changes from their previous encounter against Tahiti.
There was definitely an edge to the proceedings at the outset with Uruguay looking the more confident of the two sides. And just 14 minutes in Brazil's nerves got the better of them as defender David Luiz brought down Lugano in the area. Forlán stepped up to take the spot kick but the former Atlético de Madrid man's effort was brilliantly deflected away by Julio César.
It took some time but Brazil finally started to show a higher tempo in the match right around the half hour mark. The hosts started to penetrate deeper in the Uruguay area with most of the runs coming from the left side. They finally broke through four minutes before the half when Luis Gustavo looped in a long ball to Neymar whose shot was blocked by Muslera, but in a classic poacher's style, Fred was there to pounce and found the back of the net for his third goal in two games.
As much momentum as Brazil had going into halftime, Uruguay wrestled it all back just minutes into the second stanza as La Celeste found an equalizer through Cavani. The Napoli man took advantage of some poor and lazy passing by the Brazilian defense deep in their area and fired home a left-footer past Julio César to make things level in the 48th minute.
In an effort to change things up, Scolari made his first substitution in the 64th minute bringing on youngster Bernard for the ineffective Hulk -a straight right-sided attacking swap- and immediately Brazil showed more life. A nice combination four minutes later between Bernard and Neymar almost resulted in a goal but the new Barcelona man's shot was fired right at Muslera.
Brazil pressed but were unable to unlock a heavily fortified and well organized Uruguay defense that often had eight or nine men playing behind the ball and successfully cut down any attempted cross from a Brazilian boot.
As thoughts of another possible 'Maracanazo' -when Uruguay stunned Brazil 2-1 in the 1950 World Cup final on Brazilian turf- started looming larger, Brazil broke the deadlock just four minutes from time thanks to Paulinho. Neymar's corner from the left flag curved toward the back post and Paulinho towered over the Uruguay defense to smack the header past Muslera.
Brazil will now attempt to win their third consecutive Confederations Cup this Sunday at the Estadio Maracaná in Rio de Janeiro.