Uruguay Team Profile – 2010 World Cup
Uruguay – the country, the football
The Republica Oriental del Uruguay, officially known as Uruguay, is a southeastern country that is inhabited by just around 3,300,000 people. Almost one third of the total population can be found in Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo, and around 88% of Uruguayans have European roots – most of them being Spanish or Italian.
Covering only 176,215 km² of land, Uruguay is ranked second after Suriname as South America’s smallest country. It is surrounded by the Uruguay River on the west, the estuary of Rio de la Plata on the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. Uruguay only shares a land border with Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul.
Uruguayans have a long history of colonization under which they endured so much suffering. They finally got their independence in 1825 after several decades of affliction. The country’s motto, “Liberty or Death”, just explains how determined Uruguayans were to come out from misery and reach the barrier of freedom.
Nowadays in Uruguay, it’s more about do-or-die rather than “liberty or death” when it comes to football matters. Having won the first ever World Cup that was staged back in 1930, Uruguay went on to dream big every time. But after winning the trophy twenty years later, Uruguay never quite managed to emulate their success.
Since the past 35 years, Uruguay have had miserable World Cup campaigns. The year 2010 will mark exactly 80 years since Uruguay first lifted football’s most prestigious honor; and the people of Uruguay would be asking themselves:
Will these years of waiting finally come to an end when La Celeste Olimpica travel all the way down to South Africa to compete for the World Cup trophy?
Uruguay – the road to the 2010 World Cup
There was inconsistency, too many disappointments, hard defeats to swallow, but in the end it was all about heroism and relief…
CONMEBOL Zone
As a South American team, Uruguay kicked of their 2010 World Cup qualification campaign in the CONMEBOL Zone which comprised ten teams in a single table. Based on the qualifying format used by CONMEBOL for the three previous World Cup finals, the rule explained that the top four finishers would automatically grab tickets for South Africa 2010 with the fifth place team facing CONCACAF’s fourth place team in the play-offs.
There were 18 rounds in all and for Uruguay, most of the games looked very difficult to win. They kicked off their campaign with a thumping 5-0 win against Bolivia only to endure a run of four matches without a win. Two narrow defeats away to Paraguay and Brazil as well as two home draws against Chile and Venezuela came up along the road.
These unconvincing results meant that out of five World Cup qualifiers played between October 2007 and June 14, 2008, Uruguay had won only once. They bounced back with a 6-0 victory against ‘minnows’ Peru and a 1-0 win in Colombia. However, Uruguay suffered another setback as they were held goalless at home to Ecuador before losing 2-1 away to Argentina and then drawing again, this time away to Bolivia.
Uruguay’s most painful moment in the qualification campaign for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa might have been their 4-0 defeat against Brazil in Montevideo. Previously, Uruguay had never lost at home against the Brazilians for 33 years. But on June 6th 2008, history wasn’t on their side. Instead, their weakness allowed A Seleção to stun them and to create a new page in both nations'history of football. At that point in time, Uruguay were fifth and five points behind Argentina; their hope of securing an automatic spot in the finals of the 2010 World Cup was slowly fading away.
Early in September, Uruguay shockingly lost 1-0 away to Peru but they somehow restored their deficit with a 3-1 win away to Colombia four days later. On the last match-day of the qualifiers, there was a mathematical chance for Uruguay to finish in the top four of CONMEBOL’s ten-team table as Ecuador had lost Chile to subsequently miss out on the finals of the 2010 World Cup.
Besides, the opportunity was also there for Uruguay to inflict more troubles and anxiety on Maradona’s struggling Argentines. As things stood in the table in the final round of matches, it meant that only a victory for Uruguay would have given La Celeste Olimpica instant tickets for the final event in South Africa.
The expectations were high on both Uruguay and Argentina that night. However, at the end of the 90 minutes, it was the Albiceleste who were portrayed as the heroes of the battle. A lone goal from Argentina’s Bolatti at the 84th minute was enough for the visitors to play the trick on the hosts. Heads down, the Uruguayans understood that there were two other battles ahead to overcome before they could reach the finals of the 2010 World Cup.
Play-off
Uruguay’s fate had to be decided via a home and away tie against CONCACAF’s Costa Rica. Analytically, Costa Rica were poised to win the first leg in San Jose – considering their strengths at home compared to Uruguay’s weaknesses away.
But as long as football is not based on simple calculations and mathematics, Uruguay’s captain Diego Lugano carried the day with a first half strike that earned La Celeste Olimpica a vital 1-0 win in Costa Rica. The mission for the Uruguayans in the return leg was to hold on to their victory and go all the way through to the finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
In front of their own supporters at the Estadio Centenario, Uruguay didn’t disappoint, although the level of performance in the match was far from being entertaining. Still, there were enough thrills to mark this final match of the play-offs. Costa Rica’s Centeno cancelled Abreu’s 70th minute opener, but the Uruguayans did just enough to avoid defeat.
At the end of proceedings, Uruguay’s coach Oscar Tabarez was by far the happiest manager on the field. His men had finally overcome the country’s challenges to book their place in the final of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Uruguay – 2010 World Cup group stages
La Celeste Olimpica endured many tough moments throughout the qualifiers and they may not have much time to breathe in relief. Uruguay have been paired in Group A, with the hosts South Africa; they’ll also play against Gold Cup defending champions Mexico, and 2006 World Cup runners-up France.
Match-day One: Uruguay vs France
The first ball of the World Cup tournament will be kicked at 16:00 local time in South Africa when the hosts play Mexico at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg. Meanwhile in Cape Town, Uruguay will clash up against France in the late kick off.
Uruguay are just one goal shy of matching France’s record in the head-to-head statistics. Both countries have met only thrice in the past with France scoring three goals over all. However, Uruguay have the upper hand in terms of historical facts as they’ve never lost against the French in a World Cup.
In the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, both countries played a goalless draw in the group stages of the competition. Ironically, they were the two nations that suffered a first round exit as well, much to the surprise of the public.
This time out, Oscar Tabarez and his men will do anything to avoid enduring such a miserable fate. They’ll prefer to sacrifice all of their strength and kill their opponents come June 11th rather than pick anything less than a victory to subsequently be left with much job to do in the next matches.
Match-day Two:
Five days later, Uruguay clash up against the 2010 World Cup hosts, South Africa. The game will be staged at the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria. For the second time in the tournament, Uruguay will be playing in the evening.
Uruguay certainly hold a better record than South Africa in the history of the FIFA World Cup competition. However, they won’t rely on past statistics to inspire their spirits ahead of this clash. In their last four World Cup appearances since the 70s, Uruguay experienced a Round 1 exit at two occasions.
They’ll try and avoid hitting number 3 by upsetting the hosts. The outcome of the match could be very surprising. However, for the Uruguayans, it will not be about gambling over the final result. The major things to do will be to stay true to themselves with belief, to reach a good standard of performance physically, and to survive the traps of South Africa’s experienced Brazilian manager Carlos Alberto Parreira.
Match-day Three:
It’s going to be a Latino affair but nothing dirty in it hopefully like it often seems to be when it comes to 'Latino affairs'. It will just be a football match that could decide each of the teams' fate. Uruguay will battle it out against Mexico on June 22nd in the final match-day of Group A.
La Celeste Olimpica’s manager Oscar Tabarez will probably need to be on his guard as his opposite number, coach Javier Aguirre, might send out his Mexican boys with more hunger than respect. The match is due to take place in Rustenburg, at the Royal Bafokeng stadium at 14:00 GMT.
Uruguay – 2010 World Cup squad
Goalkeepers:
Juan Castillo; Fernando Muslera; Martin Silva
Defenders:
Diego Godin; Martin Caceres; Diego Lugano; Mauricio Victorino; Andres Scotti; Mauricio Victorino; Maximiliano Pereira; Jorge Fucile
Midfielders:
Ignacio Gonzalez; Egidio Arevalo Rios; Nicolas Lodeiro; Alvaro Fernandez; Diego Perez; Walter Gargano; Alvaro Pereira; Sebastian Eguren
Forwards:
Sebastian Fernandez; Edinson Cavani; Sebastian Abreu; Diego Forlan; Luis Suarez
Uruguay – Expectations from the country and their star man
Uruguay will be participating in their 11th World Cup next summer. Despite recording two successful campaigns back in 1930 and in 1950, Uruguay have been overshadowed in the past decades. In the last eight editions of the World Cup, Uruguay failed to qualify five times. A tournament that Uruguayans would want to forget is Mexico 1986.
La Celesta Olimpica started not so badly with a draw against West Germany. But match-day two was a complete disaster as they stumbled 6-1 against the forces of Denmark. Either way, Uruguay still qualified into the next stage of the competition thanks to a goalless draw against Scotland. However, agony wasn’t far away. In the last sixteen of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Uruguay were paired against Argentina which they couldn’t overcome.
They had to head home after suffering a 1-0 defeat in the hands of the Albiceleste. Uruguay endured the same fate of crashing out in the Round of 16 four years later. After that, they missed out on the finals of the World Cup twice in a row before qualifying finally in 2002. But then, the misery and disappointment were intense as Uruguay could not even manage to get past the first round. For the third time in three attempts, Uruguay finished third in the group stages of the World Cup.
However, the competition did not contain 24 nations anymore but rather 32. Consequently, there was no possibility of qualifying as part of the best 8. In 2010, there will be no room for mistakes. La Celesta Olimpica would want to touch the sky.
Even if lifting the 2010 World Cup trophy may be too much dreaming, then crashing out from Round 1 will surely be unacceptable.After all the hard work that Uruguay had to do throughout the qualifiers, the fans will not tolerate anymore disasters.
Can Diego Forlan carry his country on his shoulders?
Diego Forlan
The former Manchester United striker has been serving the Uruguayan national team very well. His goals often, if not always, come to the rescue of La Celeste Olimpica.
At 30, Diego Forlan might be playing in his last World Cup for his country. He is expected to fire in goals for his country and possibly match-winners. The striker has a tireless style of play and he is good on either foot. What could scare goalkeepers during the World Cup are his long range shots. Watch out for Europa League winner Diego Forlan to give nightmare to defenses.
Uruguay – Relevant quotes
Oscar Tabarez, Uruguay coach: We’re not just here to make up the numbers
“The group is an open one. It includes the host nation; […] they’ve been strengthened by the return of Parreira. […] France and Mexico represent experienced opponents who regularly appear in the finals of World Cups. […]It is a difficult draw but we’re not just here to make up the numbers.
“I can’t say for sure if we’ll qualifiy, but I know that this is within our capabilities.”
Uruguay – World Cup record
Unlike South America rivals Brazil or Argentina, Uruguay’s history in the World Cup is not that strong. It all commenced well as they were the first team to win the trophy of this particular tournament. However, Uruguay failed to pursue in strength and domination.
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2010: Qualified
2002, 1974, 1962: Round 1
1990, 1986: Round of 16
1970, 1954: Semi-final
1950, 1930: Champions
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