Oscar Tabarez was pleased with the performance of his inexperienced Uruguay side, despite going down 1-0 to Brazil.
Neymar scored a controversial penalty in the 76th minute of Friday s friendly at Emirates Stadium, after Diego Laxalt had harshly been adjudged to have fouled Danilo, who also handled the ball in the run up to the incident.
Bar a late Richarlison chance, the penalty was the only time Brazil had penetrated a makeshift Uruguay defence short of Diego Godin, Jose Gimenez and first-choice goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.
Things could have been different at the other end, too, had Alisson not pulled off a string of saves to deny both Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, and Tabarez believes the future is bright for Uruguay s youngsters, as he signalled out debutants Mathias Suarez and Bruno Mendez for individual praise.
The team left me happy, Tabarez told a news conference. We will continue to grow.
It is not easy to play without too much international experience. Bruno is captain of the Under-20s and showed those talents.
A comemoração do gol do jogo! Mais uma vitória brasileira nesta sexta-feira.
— CBF Futebol (@CBF_Futebol)
Bruno and Mathias seem to have more experience than their ages would suggest.
That s important because it increases the potential of the team in terms of options. I think we had a fairly even match, we had chances, it hurts that it was defined by a controversial moment.
We are encouraged by being competitive, even against Brazil.
