Uruguay 2012 — The Road To The World Cup

Hello dear friends, I’m very happy to be back… Let’s get it going again, we’ll start with a small break from the Notts County story, I owed you an update about the Uruguay national team. They didn’t sack me yet so I guess that the FA are satisfied with my work. Let’s make a quick recap first. We were fighting to qualify for the 2014 World Cup and at the end of 2011 we were lying in 4th place, the last spot that ensures a place in the World Cup.

I made a few changes in the selection, some players were left out and I also brought in new staff including former player Gustavo Poyet as my new assistant manager. I also decided to implement the exact same tactics that I use with Notts County, attacking and aggressive. The year started with an easy friendly game, at home with Kuwait. It was a good chance to experiment but the opponents were too weak to draw any conclusions. My players had a lot of fun out there and veteran striker Diego Forlan netted a hat-trick.

Three months later it was time for the real deal, we had a very important World Cup qualifying game at home with Colombia. They were among the favorites of the group and we definitely needed a good result to maintain our chances of going to the World Cup in Brazil. The game started perfectly for us, we put Colombia under pressure and Diego Forlan showed his lethal finishing again by scoring twice in the first 10 minutes! Colombia tried to react but we controlled the game well overall and finally won it thanks to a goal from our star player, Edinson Cavani.

After gaining the three points against Colombia we were the favorites for the next game, a tricky away match in Ecuador. It was a crazy game that could have gone either way. I was pleased with our attacking power but our defensive efforts were terrible, we failed to contain Ecuador‘s strikers. The match was immensely entertaining with numerous chances on both sides and I guess that the 3-3 scoreline reflects what happened out there. I was a bit disappointed though, I felt that we dropped two important points.

We had the chance to redeem ourselves one month later, we had an easier away game in Bolivia. We didn’t produce as much in attack but we controlled the game with great authority. Cavani made the difference again with his magnificent skills, the three points were ours and we were back on track.

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We needed much more to win the next game though, group leaders Argentina were the next opponents. The Argentinians got off to a great start, they scored in the 6th minute and it seemed that we were up against it. My lads reacted wonderfully and managed to turn the game around before the break, Argentina seemed unable to cope with our fantastic attacking skills. The roles were reversed in the second half, Argentina piled on the pressure and we had to resist. Luck was on our side as their keeper pushed a ball into his own net but my players fought with great determination. I was especially pleased with my left flank, they had a lot of work to do in order to keep Messi under control and they did that brilliantly.

We had just one more game to play before the end of the year, at home with Chile. It was a difficult one as Chile have enough talented players to cause problems. We didn’t play particularly well but did enough in the first half to grab the three points. We just had to control the game in the second half and it was pretty easy considering that Chile were down to 10 men. I was happy with the result and with the fact that Luis Suarez finally scored for the national team, he is a world class player that failed to show his worth until then.

The group table is looking good for us, we’re in 2nd place but we have a game in hand. The important thing is that we are 5 points ahead of the 5th placed team, so we have a margin to manage in the last games of the campaign.

Our best player was undoubtedly Edinson Cavani, our star striker. His abilities made the difference between winning or losing time and again, we’d be in a lot of trouble without him. He is still young, only 25 years old, so I think that he will be a star in the World Cup if we will manage to get there.

We will have 8 more games to play in 2013 and the results will decide whether we’ll go to the World Cup or not. The away games in Argentina and Colombia will probably be the most difficult ones but I think that we have to grab our points in the other games.

That’s about it for now, my Uruguay have a good chance of qualifying to the World Cup but it’s definitely not in the bag yet. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for my next Notts County update ;)

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