The defending champions were an inch closer to an exit when substitute Fernando missed his penalty and Uruguay were one penalty away from winning the shootout, but Pablo Garcia hit the post.

The Brazilians took advantage as skipper Gilberto Silva made no mistake with his effort, before Uruguay's Diego Lugano blasted his penalty into Brazil goalkeeper Doni's hands to send the holders through.

Uruguay came back twice in the game to deny Brazil a normal time victory, but they failed to complete a hard-fought win.

Maicon put Dunga's team ahead after 14 minutes, but the game was stopped for 14 minutes after a floodlight failure at the Jose Pachencho Romero stadium in Maracaibo.

Diego Forlan equalized in the fourth minute of injury time with a powerful half-volley after he collected Doni's poor punch to Alvaro Recoba's dangerous corner.

However, Julio Baptista restored the lead for the Selecao three minutes later after he bundled the ball in from close rang, following Maicon's inviting cross.

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez surprisingly took off set piece specialist Recoba in halftime, but the move proved vital as his substitute Sebastian Abreu leveled the score in the 70th minute, when he tapped in Forlan's header.

Despite Forlan's contribution by scoring the first goal and creating the second, Uruguay's top scorer was guilty of missing a penalty later in the shootout.