After an ugly match on Saturday that ended in a scoreless draw, Uruguay beat Brazil on penalties (4-2) to reach the Copa America semi-finals.
Uruguay finished with 10 men after Nahitan Nández was sent off in the 74th minute and will face Colombia in Wednesday's semi-final in Charlotte.
Colombia, now unbeaten in 27 games, beat Panama 5-0 in Saturday's other quarterfinal in Arizona.
The other semifinal will be played on Tuesday in New Jersey, pitting world champion Argentina against surprise Canada.
It was a disappointing early end to the tournament for five-time world champions Brazil, with no real results, and there is still a lot of work to be done if Dorival Junior's team is to be in a position to compete for the trophy at the 2026 World Cup.
In a city better known for boxing than the beautiful game, quality play was scarce and the match was nail-biting, with 41 fouls committed – the most in the tournament.
The playing field was of poor quality and both teams struggled to play their best football on the uneven surface.
The first and best chance in a match that had few chances came in the 35th minute, when Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez had a clear header in front of goal, but he mistimed it and the ball went wide off his shoulder.
Brazil soon had a chance through Rafinha, but Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Roche stretched to make a valuable save.
Marcelo Bielsa's Uruguay were as tenacious as ever, pressuring Brazil in the midfield and not afraid to use fouls to disrupt the flow of the game.
Brazil played long balls up front too often, but their only central striker – talented 17-year-old Endric, who replaced the suspended Vinicius Junior – was too weak to be effective with that approach.
The game got worse as time went on, with fouls continuing despite the lenient refereeing.
But Uruguay's hopes of weakening Brazil were dashed when Nandez brought down Rodrigo with a dangerous sliding move on his ankle, resulting in the player being sent off after a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) decision.
From then on, Uruguay was simply trying to take the game to a finish and a penalty shootout, and with no extra time in the Copa America, it was clear they could achieve that objective.
Federico Valverde scored from the first penalty before Eder Militão's shot was denied by a diving shot from Rocher.
They were 3–1 down when Brazil's Douglas Luiz hit the post and Uruguay's José Gimenez had a chance to decide the game, but his shot was brilliantly saved by Alisson Becker.
Substitute Gabriel Martinelli's goal kept Brazil in contention, but midfielder Manuel Ugarte kept his cool to score the winner and send the 15-time Copa champions into the quarterfinals.
Bielsa praised his team's composure in the penalty shootout and their enthusiasm throughout the 90 minutes.
“I'm more interested in attacking than defending but you have to give credit to us for creating one more situation in a tight game, defending well and playing with one less man for 15 minutes, which is a big factor at this level,” he said. “Am I happy with the fact that we created three chances to score in the 90 minutes? No, I'm not happy, but they created two. Today we outplayed Brazil in some areas of the game and outplayed them in others.”
For Brazil, the thought will be on the need to ensure qualification for the next World Cup after a poor start to CONMEBOL qualifying.
“We finished the tournament unbeaten but we're not satisfied,” said Dorival Jr., who won one and drew two in the group stage. “We didn't play at a high technical level but I wouldn't discount any of the games. I think there was commitment and fighting spirit. The team never stopped wanting results,” he added.
“This process requires patience. We have two years of work to do before the World Cup. The first step is to qualify for the World Cup because we are in sixth place (in South American qualifiers) and in a precarious situation,” he said.
The tournament final will be held in Miami on July 14th.
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© Agence France-Presse
