In a match that ended 0-0 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas Nevada in normal time the expectant crowd watched Uruguay defeat Brazil 4-2 on penalties in the Copa America 2024. “La Celeste” as they are affectionately known, advanced to the Semi-final where they will lock horns with a red hot Columbia side lead by the resurgent James Rodriguez.
Using event data from SICS from this game, we have chosen specific KPIs for each position – which we then weighted according to each metric’s importance. Here it is important to note that the metrics were chosen using subjective views.
This then created a unique score for each player in the following categories:
- Goalkeeping Score
- Defender Score
- Full Back Score
- Defensive Midfielder Score
- Playmaker Score
- Winger Score
- Striker Score
The following players emerged as the best-scoring players for each position. This accurately reflects the outcome of the game, with an even split between the two teams as the game was drawn. Also, this XI suggests that Uruguay was stronger in their attacking display than Brazil, as the back line is the Brazilian back four, which did a great job containing the attacking threat of Uruguay. What this allows us to see, is that even though the game ended 0-0, Uruguay was the most threatening team and deservedly went through to the next round. Sergio Rochet, which finds himself in the Best XI, played a crucial role by saving the first penalty to give his team the momentum in the shootout.

In addition, we also created the shot map below. This shows the position and outcome of each shot for both teams.
The insight that comes out of this map is that Brazil struggled to find chances from inside the box, with almost all their shots coming from long-range – and all their shots being from the central corridor.
Uruguay showed a variety of chance creation, with an important view that they lacked composure and were not clinical when it came to chances from close range – as the players did not even hit the target.


The penalty shot map is not included in this analysis, as all penalties simply overlap each other due to being taken from the same location.
REPORT PREPARED BY THE STUDENTS OF SPORTS DATA CAMPUS:
Kypros Nicolaou
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kypros-nicolaou/
Mateo Andrade
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mateo-andrade/
Kananelo Moleko
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kananelo-moleko/

