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• Penalty shootout victory over Brazil was winning in Uruguayan style, says Bielsa

  Uruguay showed their character and the national team's "style" in their penalty shootout win over Brazil, so says Marcelo Bielsa.

  Fifteen-time Copa America champions Uruguay progressed to the semi-finals at Brazil's expense with a 4-2 victory in the shootout after a 0-0 draw in Las Vegas on Saturday.

  Uruguay, who have quickly adapted to Bielsa's full-throttle attacking approach, had to play out the last 20 minutes with 10 men after Nahitan Nandez was sent off for a lunge on Rodrygo.

  It meant the usual offensive tactics had to make way for defensive ones, though from Nandez's red card onwards, Uruguay limited Brazil to just two attempts.

  "Everything that happens, happens Uruguayan style, because the players are the ones that give their all to the team," Bielsa said.

  "It was a match with very little goal opportunities, highly contested, very close, even with very little changes in possession.

  "When we were one man down, we decided to dedicate ourselves to defending in our half.

  "So holding on to that result as the Uruguayan team did shows the profile of Uruguayan football.

  "They were very calm in the penalty shootout that demands not only accuracy but also character."

  Uruguay have now kept three successive clean sheets, while they limited Brazil to 0.58 expected goals (xG), and their defensive resilience has pleased Bielsa.

  "I am a bit more drawn to the offensive than the defensive game, but in a match that was as tight as this one, we created one more opportunity than our opponent and we defended well," Bielsa added.

  "I do think that defensively, not because I achieved it but because the players are inherently good at defending, that they are very good at keeping a clean sheet."

  This is the first time Uruguay have reached the semi-finals of the Copa America since the last time they won the trophy in 2011.

  La Celeste had endured three consecutive quarter-final appearances without advancing, with two of those being decided by penalties (2019 and 2021).

  Uruguay will face in-form Colombia, who hammered Paraguay 5-0, in the last four.

• Dorival Junior urges patience with Brazil's rebuild after Copa America exit

  Dorival Junior has asked for time to complete his revamp of the Brazil national team after the Selecao's Copa America exit.

  Brazil, nine-time Copa America champions, lost 4-2 on penalties after a 0-0 draw with 10-man Uruguay in Las Vegas on Saturday.

  Eder Militao and Douglas Luiz were unsuccessful from 12 yards, as a disappointing and often disjointed campaign for Brazil, who were without the suspended Vinicius Junior, came to a halt.

  Dorival left out some big names for the tournament, while Neymar was absent through injury, and the coach, who was appointed in January, has reiterated the rebuild will require some patience.

  He said: "We are undergoing a very important renovation or reinvention of this team.

  "I have only coached this team for eight matches and this is a process that we have to go through.

  "We are aware of the difficulties we will come across throughout the path, but we now lost a match in the knockouts and that wasn't what we expected."

  Brazil are sixth in the South American qualification standings for the 2026 World Cup, and Dorival knows the Selecao must sharpen up.

  "We have a lot of room to continue growing, evolving, improving and our main objective now is to qualify for the World Cup," he continued.

  "Right now we are sixth in the standings, we are not comfortable with that."

  Dorival did, however, point to Uruguay's rise back to form under Marcelo Bielsa as evidence that long-term projects can come to fruition.

  "I think the Uruguayan national team has a pattern, a very well-defined pattern," he said.

  "They have been working for a long time together. They had some problems at first, they corrected them.

  "Now they are finding great results. I think we will achieve all that as well, not a doubt about it, but we need some time to make such corrections.

  "We had some issues at the beginning of the tournament. I think we corrected plenty of mistakes. 

  "It is tough given the period of time that we had to work to try to speed up the process. I think we'll have some more time in the future."

• Koeman: Netherlands proved they have heart in comeback win over Turkiye

  Reaching the semi-finals at Euro 2024 proves just how much "heart" the Netherlands have, so says Ronald Koeman.

  The Netherlands came from behind to beat Turkiye 2-1 on Saturday thanks to a header from Stefan de Vrij and Mert Muldur's own goal in Berlin.

  That victory set up a semi-final clash with England in Dortmund on Wednesday.

  And Koeman suggested his team have proved their doubters wrong with the spirit they have shown through their run to the last four.

  "I think for the whole nation it's something special," he said, as quoted by The Athletic.

  "We're a small nation and we're part of the semi-finals with England, France and Spain. We're really proud to have the opportunity to play it on Wednesday.

  "It was a really emotional match and we had a big heart, and sometimes we get criticised about that, that we don't have that heart compared to other nations.

  "The players showed it in the second half, and the last five minutes. You probably saw that better from the TV than I did from the bench. We had to suffer."

  Some excellent goalkeeping from Bart Verbruggen and brilliant last-ditch defending from the Oranje as a team helped them keep Turkiye at bay after Muldur bundled into his own net under pressure from Cody Gakpo in the 76th minute.

  De Vrij's equaliser was his first goal for the Netherlands since March 2015, and the centre-back is now relishing a meeting with England, who scraped past Switzerland on penalties.

  "It definitely means a lot to us as a team," he said.

  "First of all, to reach the semi-finals is great for us, but it’s not finished yet. From tomorrow we will start to prepare for this very important game.

  "I think that England has a great team, they have so much quality, but so do we. The Netherlands against England is a very nice game and in the semi-final of the Euros? It'll be a great match."