No excuses – Tabarez offers no justification for Uruguay´s Copa America exit

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez offered no excuses after his side slumped out of the Copa America with a 5-4 penalty shoot-out defeat to Peru.

Luis Suarez’s miss with Uruguay’s opening spot-kick proved costly in Salvador, with Peru converting all of their penalties to book their place in the last four.

Edinson Cavani had been guilty of a dreadful miss in open play midway through the first half, while Diego Godin passed up a similar chance after the interval as the match ended goalless in normal time.

Uruguay also had three goals ruled out for offside, though Tabarez did not look to blame the officials, instead accepting his side failed to impose themselves on the match, despite Peru failing to register a single shot on target in normal time.

Vibra a “Blanquirroja”! O Peru conquistou sua primeira vitória na disputa de pênaltis na #CopaAmerica. pic.twitter.com/kXVDnMFX6U

— Copa América (@CopaAmerica) June 29, 2019

“The result caused us a great disappointment, but we must accept it,” Tabarez told a news conference.

“We came with the idea of winning, we tried to impose our game and could not. You have to know how to lose.

“We failed in one aspect, the offsides. We committed seven offsides, three of them ended in a goal. 

“There is no excuse. I do not come here to justify anything. We could not win, we misjudged. The opponent came with a plan and it was not possible to win. 

“I see it from that point of view. There are no teams that always win and there are no teams that always lose. We are going to continue on this path, learning from this defeat to keep growing.”

Peru will face defending champions Chile on Wednesday, with Brazil and Argentina meeting in the other semi-final a day earlier.