Dunga, the Brazil head coach, blamed a virus that hit several players for his team's early elimination from the Copa America at the hands of Paraguay.

Derlis Gonzalez slotted two penalties, one in regular time and again in the shootout, to help Paraguay beat Brazil 4-3 after a 1-1 draw that advanced them to a semi-final meeting with Argentina.

"It's not an excuse, but 15 players had a virus this week and we had to limit much of our training," Dunga said. "Today was a game in which it was crucial to use speed and that was what we lacked at the end.

"They had a virus, they had headaches, sore backs, aches and pains all over, each of them worse than the next," he added. "Some vomited and we had to slow down our training sessions because of that."

Brazil had the best of the first half and went in 1-0 up thanks to a Robinho strike, but Paraguay levelled in 70 minutes after Thiago Silva handled the ballin side the penalty area and Gonzalez made no mistake from resulting spot kick.

Everton's Ribeiro and Douglas Costa then both missed in the penalty shoot-out for Brazil to give Paraguay victory.

While Dunga felt the virus had affected their preparation, his players said it had little bearing on the outcome of the game, while team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said they were all fit for the game.

"I am not using that as an excuse," said Robinho. "We could have won the game with a virus or not."

"Unfortunately, our game dropped in the second half. We had chances to kill the game off. Paraguay with all respect aren't one of the best sides. We didn't kill the game and unfortunately we lost a goal with a silly mistake and we lost."