They concluded with 26 fouls, 10 players, and just one shot on goal.
Minute after minute, they delivered physical blows all over Allegiant Stadium’s compact field.
Uruguay transformed the final Copa América quarterfinal into a football massacre. And Brazil, the formidable Brazil, succumbed to it.
Brazil — with a population of 216 million and five World Cup titles — exited the tournament on Saturday, defeated 0-0 (4-2 in penalties).
Uruguay — with a population of 3.4 million — celebrated in triumph. Clad in sky blue, the players flooded the field, triumphant. The devastated Brazilians could only watch.
However, the highlight of the evening was the savagery they endured, the brutality that turned joga bonito into a street brawl.
These two South American rivals battled for 90 minutes in Las Vegas. And Uruguay, the often overshadowed neighbor, refused to retreat.
On paper, the comparison was lopsided; as Brazil’s Andreas Pereira stated earlier in the week, “if you take it name by name, we have a team that they dream of having.”
However, on the field, chaos ensued. Uruguay’s manager Marcelo Bielsa’s man-to-man press suffocated Brazil in their own half. Collisions seemed to occur every few seconds.
Within six minutes, players were almost coming to blows.
Nicolás de la Cruz collided with Éder Militão, injuring Militão’s lower leg. Shortly after, during a break in play, Ronald Araújo blindsided Endrick and shoved him in the back.
Surprisingly, no yellow cards were shown until the 39th minute. There were numerous challenges that would typically be fouls in most soccer matches worldwide, but not in this one. Brazilians were yelling at referee Dario Herrera, leaping off their bench and gesturing in anger.
Finally, in the middle of the second half, they got their wish.
Eventually, one of the many aggressive tackles from Nahitan Nández on Rodrygo resulted in Nández being sent off after a video review.
Despite playing with 10 men for the final 20 minutes, the Uruguayans remained composed and resolute.
They played with passion, like warriors, embodying the traditional Garra Charrúa, showing no concern for fatigue or their own physical well-being. They contested every forward pass by Brazil. They threw themselves into physical battles, at times colliding with teammates, who became collateral damage.
Near their own penalty area, they defended aggressively like an NFL defense.
They restricted Endrick — who replaced the suspended Vinicius Junior — to just one completed pass out of five attempts. One!
They either tumbled or caused Brazilians to tumble so frequently that Herrera couldn’t possibly blow his whistle each time a player hit the ground, so the threshold for a foul was set remarkably high.
Despite this, there were still 41 fouls in the game. It opened up briefly towards the end of the first half, then became scrappy in the second. There were few sustained possessions. Neither team completed 80% of their passes. Bielsa, standing by the sideline water cooler, could be heard on the pitch-side microphones urging his team to continue pressing: “Vamos! Vamos!”
They persevered, pressed on, continued to fight. They threw elbows at Brazilian players. They grabbed yellow jerseys. They held Brazil to 0.6 expected goals, despite playing the final stages with a numerical disadvantage, against a country with 64 times their population and 27 times their financial resources.
Of course, they upset some fans who believed they were tarnishing the beauty of the game.
But they were unfazed; they molded this particular game into what they desired and pushed it to a penalty shootout.
Even after the final whistle and before the shootout, a minor altercation occurred near the midfield. Nevertheless, the penalties exemplified the dual nature of Uruguayan soccer. It is brutal, intense, unyielding — yet also skillful.
Federico Valverde hammered his opening penalty into the side netting. Rodrigo Bentancur and Giorgian de Arrascaeta, usually elegant midfielders, remained composed. Two Brazilians missed their penalties, leaving Uruguay with a substantial lead in the shootout.
And with the last kick of the night, Manuel Ugarte sealed the victory, propelling Uruguay into a semifinal clash against Colombia on Wednesday, and dethroning South American soccer’s greatest giant.