Uruguay: Abreu will not change penalty style

Uruguay's penalty shoot-out hero Sebastian Abreu will continue taking the same laid-back approach to spot-kicks he showed in netting the winning kick in their World Cup quarter-final victory over Ghana.

The Botafogo striker audaciously chipped the ball straight down the centre to hand the South American's a 4-2 shoot-out win after their 120 minutes at Soccer City ended 1-1.

It handed Oscar Tabarez's team a place in the last four for the first time in 40 years and Abreu said: "For me, this is the best way to score a goal, because I always take my penalties in this way.

"I am always one of the five kickers for Uruguay and I will continue to take my kicks in this way."

However, the 33-year-old conceded the moment was not the best of his career, instead handing that honour to a moment during qualifying for the finals.

"No, I don't think this is the best moment of my career," he said. "That moment is definitely 18 November 2009 when I scored the goal that helped us qualify for this World Cup.

"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 came against Costa Rica during their play-off in Montevideo which enabled La Celeste to edge out their opponents 2-1 over the two legs.

Uruguay were a football superpower during the first half of the 1900s when they were twice crowned world champions, won several Copa America titles and two Olympic titles.

But Abreu brushed aside any comparisons between the different eras, saying: "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.

"In saying this, I would also like to add that those players for me are real legends."

Next up for the South Americans are Holland in the last four and Abreu admits they have been studying hard to find out more about their opponents, who he believes have a very strong attack.

"Tabarez has asked us to concentrate fully, not just in the matches, but also in training," he said. "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 (Wesley) Sneijder and (Arjen) Robben."

And he revealed they have been taking special interest in Bayern Munich forward Robben.

He added: "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."