The Atletico Madrid striker bagged a brace, while Pablo Garcia and Cristian Rodriguez were also on target in the Pueblo Nuevo stadium, as Oscar Tabarez's side made light of their goalscoring troubles after only finding the back of the net once during the group stage.

"We played really well," Forlan said.

"Yes, I scored twice, but the whole team were the stars.

"We're happy because we finally showed what we are capable of."

Tabarez was also pleased his side finally discovered where the back of the net was in the second period.

"We were very threatening at the start but could not score goals.

"We spoke during the interval about how a better final ball would resolve this.

"I believe that, as the result shows, we won well.

"We beat none other than the hosts and that's no mean feat."

Tabarez also defended the performance of Alvaro Recoba, who has been criticised by some quarters of the Uruguayan press despite carrying an injury.

"Recoba played a lot longer than I wanted him to," he added.

"He was hindered by an injury and any mistake he made was down to that."

Defender Diego Lugano believes Uruguay now have every chance of lifting the trophy after the display against Venezuela.

"If we are focused we can be competitive," he said.

"We showed that we have a lot of determination and concentration."

Venezuela midfielder Ricardo Paez, on the other hand, was understandably deflated that the hosts had exited the tournament but felt their run to the last eight had given plenty of cause for optimism in the future.

"It is really a shame," he said.

"There is not doubt the best team won but the result did not reflect what happened on the pitch.

"We felt the team had more to give and could go further in the tournament.

"What please me is that the group are very united and mentally prepared for qualifying for the 2010 World Cup."

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