Brazil has scraped into the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-20 World Cup with penalties needed to see it past Uruguay after a goalless two hours of action in New Plymouth.
Brazil had the better of the game, missing a hatful of chances, but Uruguay defended valiantly - hurling bodies at the ball whenever necessary, and penalties were needed to separate them.
Rodrigo Amaral fired over and with no other penalty missed, the 5-4 scoreline sent Brazil into the last eight.
Meanwhile, host New Zealand is out of the tournament but only after giving Portugal a major fright at Hamilton's Waikato Stadium.
The Europeans were ultimately worthy winners and sealed a 2-1 victory and a place in the quarter-finals against Brazil on Sunday thanks to a wonderful late goal by Gelson Martins.
The Junior All Whites fought bravely, though, and had threatened a shock win of their own after Stuart Holthusen had cancelled out Raphael Guzzo's first-half opener.
A first-half goal from Levin Oztunali was enough to take Germany through to the last eight at the expense of Nigeria.
Ultimately, Frank Wormuth’s side were deserved winners against the Group E runner-up and while the Africans could not be faulted for effort, their inability to create meaningful chances proved to be their undoing.
The Germans hung on to book a quarter-final clash with Mali and remain in Christchurch, while Nigeria heads home.
Earlier on Thursday, a brace by Dostonbek Khamdamov saw Uzbekistan defeat Austria 2-0 in its Round of 16 encounter at Northland Events Centre in Whangarei.
After a goalless first half, Khamdamov struck in the 47th and 57th minutes to set up a quarter-final match-up against Senegal in Wellington on Sunday.