Despite having a world-class forward line composed of the lethal Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani, Uruguay suffered on Saturday from a lack of goals and was eliminated by Peru in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Copa América.
"We lacked the goal. We searched for it, we tried," lamented the captain of the Celeste, Diego Godin, in a television interview once the defeat in penalties, 5-4 against the Peruvian team, was confirmed.
According to Godin, the Celeste lacked "conviction to score a goal," in addition to having "three goals" disallowed by VAR, all of them for offside.
"We are sad and bitter. We had a lot of hope and desire to advance, but we couldn't," added Godin, the player with the most appearances in the history of the Uruguayan national team, with 131. "We had a fantastic hope, but football isn't about deserving it."
Godin admitted that the Peruvians "kicked better" in the penalty shootout. Peru converted all five of their shots, and their goalkeeper, Pedro Gallese, saved Luis Suárez's shot to secure the victory for his team.
His teammate in the Uruguayan defense, Josema Giménez, praised Peru's "great defensive work" and highlighted that they "scored several goals, but we couldn't score a legal one."
"You need a bit of luck in penalty shootouts," added Giménez. "We are leaving saddened; we had hopes of advancing and winning the championship. Today, it's a different reality. We have to lift our heads."
Source: AFP
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► Huge! Pedro Gallese saves a penalty from Luis Suárez [VIDEO]
► The goal by Flores that sealed the penalty shootout in favor of the Peruvian National Team [VIDEO]
► More united than ever! The unprecedented gesture of the Peruvian National Team for the official photo