They finished the game with 26 fouls, 10 men and one shot on goal.
They were physical assaults, every minute of it, all over the enclosed field at Allegiant Stadium.
Uruguay turned the last of their four Copa America quarter-final matches into a football bloodbath – and mighty Brazil was engulfed in the carnage.
Brazil, a nation of 216 million people, five World Cup winners and limitless talent, was eliminated from the tournament after losing on penalties on Saturday.
Uruguay, a nation of 3.4 million, was in ecstasy as players in sky blue uniforms marched triumphantly onto the field, while Brazil could only watch in despair.
But the events of that night, the atrocities they endured, Joga Bonito Something like a street fight.
The two South American neighbours faced off for 90 minutes in Las Vegas, and their oft-overlooked neighbours, Uruguay, never gave in.
On paper, it was a no-brainer: “You name it, we have the team they dream of having,” Brazil’s Andreas Pereira said earlier this week.
But there was frenzy on the pitch, with Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa’s legendary man-to-man pressing choking Brazil in their own half and a collision seemingly happening every three seconds.
Within six minutes, players were punching each other.
Nicolas de la Cruz collided with Eder Militão, hitting him on the ankle, and a few minutes later, with the ball just out of the playing area, Ronald Araújo got behind Endric and smashed his shoulder into the Brazilian prodigy’s back.
For some reason, no yellow card was shown until the 39th minute — there were dozens of challenges that would have been fouls in 98 percent of soccer matches around the world but not here — and Brazilians were yelling at referee Dario Herrera, jumping up from the bench and gesticulating frantically to express their anger.
Finally, midway through the second half, they got the call.
In the end, one of Uruguay’s Nahitan Nández’s many diving tackles hit Rodrigo just above the ankle, and after a video review, Herrera sent Nández off.
But despite playing with 10 men for the final 20 minutes, Uruguay remained composed and strangely calm.
Like warriors, they played with fire with the customary Garra Charrua, without regard for fatigue or their own strength, opposing every forward pass from Brazil, throwing themselves into physical duels and sometimes wiping out teammates who became necessary victims.
They rallied around the ball like a ferocious NFL defense in the shadows of their own penalty box.
They managed just one successful pass from Endric, who started in place of the suspended Vinicius Junior, out of five attempts. One!
Brazil players fell and were knocked down so often that it was impossible for Herrera to call the whistle every time a player went down, so the standard for fouls was surprisingly high.
And yet there were 41 fouls in the game. There was a brief spark at the end of the first half, but the second half was eventful. There was little sustained possession and neither team had an 80% passing success rate. Bielsa rose from his perch at the water cooler on the sidelines to plead with his team on the pitchside microphone to keep going, to keep attacking. “Vamos! Vamos!”
So they kept going, kept pressing, kept fighting. They stuck their forearms into Brazil’s grills and grabbed the yellow jersey with their hands. They held Brazil to 0.6 expected goals in the second half, despite playing with a 10-11 deficit, against a country 64 times their population and 27 times their money.
And, of course, they infuriated some fans who felt they were tarnishing the beautiful game.
But they didn’t care: they made this particular game exactly how they wanted it and sent it to the shootout.
There was a bit of a midfield scuffle between the final whistle and the shootout, but then a penalty shootout that epitomised the dual nature of Uruguayan football: brutal, intense, unwavering and skilled all at the same time.
Federico Valverde smashed his first-time shot into the side netting, while midfielders Rodrigo Bentancur and Giorgian de Arrascaeta, as always excellent, kept their cool and the two Brazilians missed to give Uruguay a big lead in the shootout.
And with the final kick of the night, Manuel Ugarte sealed the victory, setting up Uruguay for Wednesday’s semi-final against Colombia – and burying a true giant of South American football.
