"Victory came the Uruguayan way"

Argentina's Marcelo Bielsa, Uruguay's coach, said Saturday that the 'Celeste' victory after suffering and penalty shootout against Brazil in the quarter-finals of the Copa America, came "the Uruguayan way".

"It's always the players who give the team its profile," Bielsa said at the press conference following his side's 4-2 penalty shoot-out win.

"The match was very tight, very hard-fought, even, with few changes of dominance. With a man down we resigned ourselves to defending in our half, but we didn't suffer from goal situations. Clinging on to the result as the team has done denotes a profile of Uruguayan football," he added.

Uruguay were reduced to ten men 15 minutes from time after Nahitan Nandez was shown a straight red card, but they defended with order and did not concede any chances to Brazil.

Brazil did have one in the first half, but goalkeeper Sergio Rochet denied Raphinha. "He played a very important role, the ball he blocked in the first half, it's not easy," he said.

Bielsa stressed that he prefers to play attacking football, but expressed great appreciation for the defensive focus of his players.

"Uruguay is a team that when it comes to defending is consistent, very consistent. They played Mexico, the United States, Brazil and didn't concede any goals. I think that defensively, not because of a question developed by me, but because of a question that comes with the players I manage, we have to appreciate not having conceded goals," he reiterated.

He also said the 'Celeste' are "ready to play against any opponent" as they look ahead to next Wednesday's semi-final against Colombia in Charlotte.