After the win over Chile, Brazil travelled from Puerto La Cruz to Calacas, the capital of Venezuela, where they will face semi-final opponents Uruguay.

The Brazilian domestic media expressed cautious optimism about the match. Although the two sides know each other well, and although Brazil have not had much advantage against Uruguay in recent years, it will be a tough battle, but everyone is confident of a final victory.

Ricardo and Kaka are two of Brazil's winning muscles.

No more, Brazil still had Robinho and Diego on the bench, ready to play and save the world – even though Ricardo usually did it alone.

"It's a difficult time to play against Uruguay, it's a team of quality and fighting spirit and we have to give it our all," said Jurkinho, Brazil's assistant coach and passing star. ”

Kaka smiled charmingly in the interview: "Uruguay are looking forward to playing against us, the name 'Brazil' excites them, they always want to prove their quality against the world champions. We're not afraid of it, Brazil have great players and a lot of experience and we have to get past Uruguay to get to the final. ”

Captain Doni commented: "We must not pretend to be favourites after the big win over Chile and beware of a repeat of the Maracanã tragedy, every match from now on is a final. ”

Uruguay coach Tavares said at his pre-match press conference: "Recoba has recovered. It's not 100% yet, but he's able to lead us forward. Brazil are strong, Ricardo and Kaka are good, I don't think we can freeze them easily, but we don't throw in easily. ”

Similar to the Brazilian team, Uruguay also started low and went high in this Copa America.

In the group stage, they lost 3-0 to Peru in their opening game, then drew 0-0 with hosts Venezuela and beat Bolivia 1-0, scoring just one goal in three games to finish third in the group with the second best result.

But in the quarter-finals, Diego. Forlan's brace helped them to a 4-1 thrashing of hosts Venezuela and showed good form. And Recoba's comeback has also made Uruguayan fans optimistic about the game.

However, their number one star Recoba himself is not so optimistic, "Brazil's most dangerous player? I think it's Ricardo. He scored a free-kick in the 2004 Copa America. I've worked with Ricardo and he's a miracle player and I think he's the best in the world and we can't be too careful with him. ”

During Ricardo's two years at Inter Milan, Recoba was a substitute, and he knows all too well what Ricardo is capable of.

And after leaving Inter Milan, Ricardo continued to grow.

Such a world-class player is not something that Uruguay can freeze if it says it is frozen. Uruguay's main centre-back, Lugano, a team-mate of Ricardo during his time in São Paulo, expressed a similar sentiment: "Ricardo was already strong in São Paulo, I never had to guard him in training. To me, he's the best in the world. Of course, we are enemies in tomorrow's game and I will do everything I can to limit him. ”

At 8:30 p.m. on July 10, the game started on time.

Dunga continued the line-up from the sweep of Chile, while Uruguay continued to field Diego. Fran and Recoba's partner.

From the very beginning of the game, Uruguay played very positively. Although they have two star strikers, they play overall football, with the team running at high speed, fighting aggressively, covering every corner of the pitch.

In front of the team football of the Uruguayans, the samba today is a little unable to dance.

In the 7th minute, Recoba took a corner kick and Lugano rose high to head it into the goal, only to get close to scoring the Brazilian goal.

Then the Uruguayans also had the upper hand, with the light blue jersey seemingly everywhere, and the Brazilian floating like a yellow lone boat in the ocean.

However, the situation changed in the 12th minute. Brazil instigated the attack from the left, Baptista won the ball on the edge of the box and crossed, Lowe won the ball and leaned on Lugano to burst into the box and flicked the ball down the middle when goalkeeper Carini attacked.

Ricardo was caught between two Uruguayan players and he didn't even try to stop the ball, let alone shoot straight at goal, because there was a high probability that it would be played on the Uruguayan player. He faces the ball head-on, spreads his legs, and smashes the ball with the heel of his left foot.

The ball flies towards the back of the goal. No one knows if he wants to pass the ball or try to shoot that way. But now the ball is off the verge and is about to roll off the line.

But one guy interjected.

Before the ball flew off the line, he blocked the ball with his right foot and lifted his left foot to shoot from a tight angle. Instead of flying towards the goal, the ball flew towards Uruguayan goalkeeper Carini, hitting Carini's leg and refracting and bouncing into the goal.

"McConn Goallllllll! It was his first goal for the Brazilian national team! In the 12th minute of the game, McCone opened the scoring for Brazil! The commentator of Globo Sport roared and ignited the passion of all the Brazilian fans.

While the Brazilians were celebrating, the lighting in the stadium malfunctioned and one side of the headlights became on/off. The referee immediately interrupted the game.

The staff carried out maintenance urgently, but it was ineffective. After waiting for more than ten minutes, the referee decided to continue the game after consulting the captains of both sides.

In the 38th minute of the game, the Brazilian team broke the ball at the back and counterattacked, and the front court formed a 2-on-2.

Uruguayan defender Rodriguez was forced to bring down Ricardo and was shown a yellow card by the referee. Ricardo took the penalty himself, but his direct free-kick didn't fall fast enough after going over the wall and went just over the crossbar.

In the 41st minute, there was a dangerous situation in front of the Brazilian team, the defender made a mistake in possession of the ball and was cut off by Forlan, who dialed the ball to Recoba, and Recoba's shot was saved by Doni.

Recoba took the corner, and it is unknown whether he did it intentionally or unintentionally, and the ball turned directly towards the goal, and Doni jumped back in embarrassment, barely lifting the ball off the crossbar.

In the 43rd minute, Recoba had another good chance when he volleyed unguarded, but Doni did well to keep the ball out again.

Dunga looked nervous. Although Brazil are ahead, judging by the situation on the field, Uruguay could equalize at any time.

Sure enough, every time I play Uruguay, it's so tough.