Uruguay hero Sebastian Abreu insists he will continue to take penalties in the same laid-back manner.
Uruguay hero would take the cheeky option again
Uruguay's penalty shoot-out hero Sebastian Abreu insists he will continue to take spot-kicks in the same laid-back manner.
The Botafogo striker scored an audacious penalty in the quarter-finals against Ghana, chipping straight down the middle to secure a 4-2 shoot-out win.
That booked Uruguay's place in the semi-finals for the first time in 40 years and Abreu claims he is brave enough to do the same again if a shoot-out is required against Holland on Tuesday.
"For me, this is the best way to score a goal because I always take my penalties in this way," he said.
"I am always one of the five kickers for Uruguay and I will continue to take my kicks in this way."
However, that moment was not the best of the 33-year-old's career. It was, in fact, during the second leg of Uruguay's play-off triumph over Costa Rica.
"That moment is definitely 18 November, 2009, when I scored the goal that helped us qualify for this World Cup," said the much-travelled striker.
Proud
"That was the most important moment for me. But today, I am also very proud and very happy that the entire country is supporting us."
That goal secured a 2-1 aggregate win and saw Uruguay become the final nation to qualify for this year's finals.
Yet despite booking their ticket to South Africa late in the day, Oscar Tabarez's men are determined to reach the nation's first final in 60 years having won the World Cup in 1930 and 1950.
"We gatecrashed the party, but now we are here we want to keep dancing as long as possible," Abreu said.
"The qualifying in South America is the strongest and hardest there is - when four of the quarter-finalists in the World Cup are from this region, that tells you something.
"But you can't compare this Uruguay team with the ones from the 30s and 50s because this Uruguay team plays a different style compared to those," added the veteran.
Legends
"In saying this, I would also like to add that, for me, those players are real legends."
Midfielder Diego Perez added that he believes Uruguay's lengthy qualifying campaign has played a big factor in them getting this far in the finals.
"We were the last team to qualify and we had to play 20 games to get here," he said.
"Passing through those difficult moments made us stronger and that's been a help as we've progressed. Now we will try to keep going."
Holland are firm favourites to reach the final as attacking stars such as Inter Milan's Wesley Sneijder have been in top form, and they were also boosted for the knock-out stages by the return of fit-again winger Arjen Robben.
"Tabarez has asked us to concentrate fully, not just in the matches, but also in training," said Abreu. "He is very satisfied with our work.
"Looking at Holland, we have watched a lot of videos on their team because we don't know too much about them.
"Holland and Uruguay play very similar football, but they have very good potential in their attack with very clever players like Sneijder and Robben.
"Tabarez has been talking to us about Robben and how to stop a player like him from going forward, but it's always different when you are on the field.
"So we know how to do it, but whether the actual execution actually comes off is another thing."
