Confederations Cup Group B, Recife .
Uruguay 8 (Hernández 2’, 24’, 45’, 67’ (pen.), Pérez 27, Lodeiro 61’, Suarez 82’, 90), Tahiti 0
Luis Suarez broke the Uruguayan scoring record and Abel Hernandez scored four as the South American champions sealed their place in the last four of the Confederations Cup with an 8-0 thrashing of Tahiti in Recife.
Suarez came off the bench to score his 35th and 36th goals for his country to overtake Diego Forlan despite still only being 26 as the Uruguay ans set-up a semi-final date with Brazil.
The 2011 Copa America winners took the lead within the opening two minutes, when Hernandez headed in at the back post from a Nicolas Lodeiro corner.
And Uruguay doubled their lead after 23 minutes when Hernandez latched on to a ball played over the top of the Tahiti backline, finishing well on the volley after juggling the ball over Nicolas Vallar.
Tahiti did come close to finding the net through speedy winger Steevy Chong Hue, who collected the ball on the halfway line before beating two opposition defenders and rounding the keeper. However he couldn’t stretch far enough to angle the ball towards goal, finding the side netting.
Diego Perez took advantage of Tahiti’s slack offside trap to make it 3-0 before Hernandez completed his hat-trick, latching on to Walter Gargano’s through ball before finishing with the outside of his left foot.
Uruguay resumed their dominance after the break but Tahiti did have one moment to remember, when Andres Scotti saw his penalty saved by Gilbert Meriel, the third keeper the Oceania champions had used in the tournament.
And Scotti completed a nightmare couple of minutes by being shown a second yellow card for bringing down Chong Hue on the edge of the Uruguay box.
But Tahiti’s man advantage was soon cancelled out when Teheivarii Ludivion was also shown a second yellow, with Uruguay making it 5-0 soon after when Nicolas Lodeiro turned home Gargano’s drive across the face of goal.
Hernandez netted his fourth of the evening and Uruguay sixth from the spot, after Chong Hue brought down Matias Agguiregaray inside the penalty area, before Suarez, brought on as a second half substitute, netted Uruguay’s seventh of the night.
Suarez made it 8-0 with just seconds left on the clock to send Tahiti home from the Confederations Cup and secure Uruguay’s place in the semi-finals with aplomb.
MAN OF THE MATCH:
Abel Hernandez – The Palermo striker looked sharp from the beginning and could've even had more than four. Took advantage of slack marking and defensive awareness to make his case for a starting spot against Brazil.
PLAYER RATINGS
URUGUAY: Silva 4, Agguiregaray 6, Coates 5, Scotti 3, Gargano 7, Perez 6, Eguren 6, Pereira 6, Lodeiro 7, Ramirez 6, Hernandez 9. Subs: Suarez 7.
TAHITI: Meriel 7, Simon 5, Tehau 5, Vallar 4, Ludivion 3, Aitamai 4, Vahirua 6, Hyanine 4, Caroine 5, Chong Hue 7, Tehau 4. Subs: Atani 3, Lemaire 4.
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