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Manchester United’s Facundo Pellistri had a quiet night but Uruguay squeezed past South American giants Brazil on penalties last night to set up yet another mouth-watering tie versus Colombia for a place in the final.
The Uruguayans have a rich history in the competition and continued adding to it with an impressive victory where they played with ten men since the 74th minute, including all of extra time.
In a performance full of determination and grit they only had 40% of the ball but held the Brazilians largely at bay as the result finished 0-0 after 120 minutes.
They had 12 shots to Brazil’s seven but only one on target, as Darwin Nunez missed a gilt-edged chance as he saw a free header in the first half sail over the bar.
Pellistri had one of his quieter nights in what has been an impressive tournament so far, where he has scored and assisted a goal.
The 22 year old, who spent last season on loan at Granada, was given a score of 6.7 from Sofascore.
He played 78 minutes of the match but was subbed off shortly after Nahitan Nandez was shown a red card and La Celeste had to change their set up.
He was only able to have 30 touches in the match and completed a paltry four passes out of eight attempts.
Naturally, he had no key passes as he was on the ball so little and neither of his two crosses found their intended target.
The young winger also failed to have any shots on or off the target on a frustrating night on a personal level.
He did try and take on the Brazilian defence and completed two out of his five dribble attempts. He was also quite wasteful on the ball, giving it away 13 times during the entirety of the match.
The youngster did contribute defensively however for his side as he made one clearance and five successful tackles.
He also won eight out of his 15 ground duels and one of his two aerial battles.
Manchester United transfer target Manuel Ugarte was the hero as he slotted in Uruguay’s final penalty in the shootout, after Brazil had missed two of theirs.
Uruguay’s continued involvement in the tournament will likely delay any progress on a deal for the defensive midfielder until after the middle of July.
La Celeste will now face Colombia in the semi-finals on Wednesday night (Thursday morning UK time) for the chance to face Argentina or Canada in the final. United fans will be hoping that Uruguay can make it through to face Lisandro Martinez and Alejandro Garnacho’s Argentina, so at least one United player will start their summer holidays with the Copa America trophy in their possession.
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