The World Cup: Uruguay

ThisDrinkingLife and The World Cup: Uruguay

Uruguay have the terrible habit of pissing off the footballing world, or more accurately Luis Suarez has. In 2010 in South Africa, against Ghana Suarez handled a goal bound ball in the last minute of extra time, to which A. Gyan missed the resulting penalty and where the psychological damage was so much that Ghana ended up losing out on the penalty shoot out. Then we have four years ago where he decided to take a big chunk out of Chiellini’s shoulder, and promptly got kicked out of the tournament which totally derailed his nations chances. So here we are back again and one can only wonder what surprises Luis has in store for the general public!

All this nonsense takes away from the fact that Uruguay have a pretty good footballing team. José María Giménez and Diego Godín have worked well together for Atlético Madrid this season and are a rock in the centre of defense. Up front the pairing of Suarez and Edinson Cavani will be a major headache for a lot of teams. They are physical (perhaps too much), feed off each other perfectly, and can score from all angles. They are a dangerous partnership that deserves respect.

Oscar Tabarez is back for his 4th World Cup, but I thought they should have ditched him after the last fiasco, as he lost control of his own team and appeared to be a bit of a jabbering idiot at times. In times of panic and mayhem you need strong leadership and he was found badly wanting.

In a relatively easy group for their high quality, I full expect them to get to round two. I see them having no problems with Egypt (sans Mo), and Saudi Arabia, and they also should dispatch of Russia. With this in mind they will play either Spain or Portugal in the next round. If they get Portugal, they have a good chance of making the last eight. If they get Spain, I am not so sure. France might lie in wait in the quarters, another team that Uruguay can beat if firing on all cylinders. If they manage to get out of all that, Brazil will be the team for them to beat in the semi’s. A lot of ifs and buts there so they need their top players to be level headed and cool and not to internally sabotage their own chances and have a meltdown. They can be their own worst enemy. I sincerely hope that Uruguay wont annoy the footballing gods in another World Cup, surely not!