Uruguay 2013 — Going To The World Cup?

Hello dear friends, I’m so happy to be posting again after going through a busy schedule in my day to day life. I didn’t play the game since last Sunday but I hope to catch up during the week end. Anyway, back to the point. The Uruguay national team had still a long way to go in order to qualify for the 2014 World Cup although we were on course at the halfway point, the team was in 2nd place in the qualifying group at the end of 2012. We had 8 more games to play, so there were still lots of points to conquer.

The first game of the year was at home with Peru, a team that can always surprise the opponent with their skillful forwards. We desperately needed the three points, that was quite obvious. We played pretty well in the first half, left winger Albin and veteran poacher Diego Forlan gave us a 2-1 lead at the break. We couldn’t hang on to that advantage though and the second half turned into a wild chase for the winning goal. We missed quite a few chances but our old time striker did it again, Diego Forlan (age 34) gave us a priceless win with one of his trademark placed headers. The defending was rather poor again, that was a bit concerning.

One month later we had a much easier game to play, away at the weakest team in the group, Venezuela. I couldn’t accept anything else than a win and the players looked quite motivated too. The game was entertaining as well, we didn’t care much about defending after being 4-0 up in the 27th minute. Just about any player got to score at least once, it was a demolition job but still only three points…

A few days later I had the chance to test a few players in a friendly game with Saudi Arabia. We won the game quite clearly, 4-1, but the defending was quite poor again. The good thing was that it looked like I found the man to replace an aging Forlan: Abel Hernandez, a 22 year old striker that plays in Italy for Palermo.

Back to the battle for points, the next game was at home with Paraguay. It started quite badly for us, some poor defending again left us trailing 2-1 at the break. Fortunately our star player, Edinson Cavani, was in full strength and compensated for the other players’ mistakes. We should have won the game though, we dominated it quite clearly but it looked like Cavani was the only man determined to do the job on that day. We dropped two points that could have proven to be quite important.

With the morale a bit down we had to face a tough away game a few days later, in Colombia. We won the home game 3-1 last year, I can say that it was the start of an enthusiastic period for the team. Now I hoped to do that again and get one hand on the tickets for the World Cup. We looked well in the first half, solid in defense and decent upfront. A strike of genius gave us the lead, midfielder Nacho Gonzalez struck home a free kick from 35 yards out, right into the top corner. We pulled back to defend in the second half and we did that quite well, Colombia didn’t seem to be too threatening. Disaster struck in the last seconds of the game, we stupidly conceded a goal and postponed the celebrations.

Next up, a friendly game with Finland. I was hoping for a quiet win but the game turned out to be another disappointment. We should have won it easily but got only a draw due to some atrocious defending and extremely poor finishing. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

I guess the players had their minds already set on the next game, at home with Ecuador. A win would most probably have given us the official qualification to the World Cup, everybody was ready to celebrate. The game turned out to be much more complicated though… It started with a red card, one of my central midfielders got sent off in the 22nd minute. Ecuador felt that it was the time to push forward but Edinson Cavani punished them on counter attacks, he gave us an unbelievable two goal lead at the break. The game seemed already won but Ecuador got back on level terms in just 10 minutes after the break, the fans were shocked! The team found the strength to score once again though and it was over, Ecuador were brought to their knees by that goal.

And we were there, going to the World Cup!

The last three games were not important anymore, I tested a few younger players to see if they have what it takes to play at this level. As you can see from the results, most of them don’t…

We finished 2nd at the end of it, right behind Argentina. With a bit of luck and concentration in some key moments we could have finished 1st but I guess that isn’t so important.

The great thing was that the good qualifying results gave us a good status for the World Cup draw, we were seeded 1st! I can say the we were quite lucky with the draw, we’ll have a tough opponent in the Czech Republic but we should be able to surpass Costa Rica and Iran. We’ll have to be careful though, the World Cup games are always tricky, but I guess we should qualify for the first knockout round.

Now let’s see how our best eleven for the World Cup might look like…

Goalkeeper — Fernando Muslera (27 years old, playing in Italy for Lazio) — he’s a solid keeper that saved us from a lot of trouble so far, if he’ll get injured we’ll be in big trouble.

Right back — Jorge Fucile (29 years old, playing in Portugal for FC Porto) — he’s an experienced player that will reach the peak of his career during the World Cup.

Left back — Alvaro Pereira (28 years old, playing in Portugal for FC Porto) — talented and experienced, he has no rival for the place in the first team.

Centre backs — Diego Lugano (33 years old, playing in France for Lyon) — he’s a great centre back but I fear that his advancing age might get him out of the team. Martin Caceres, playing for my Notts County is the most likely replacement.

— Leandro Cabrera (22 years old, playing in Spain for Atletico Madrid) — he’s a great talent, already has lots of international games played, he’s the present and the future in the middle of our defense.

Right winger — Alvaro Gonzalez (29 years old, playing in Italy for Genoa) — he’s a reliable and talented player, he could be an important asset for our World Cup campaign

Left winger — Juan Angel Albin (27 years old, playing for Arsenal) — he’s one of my favorite players in the squad, has great pace and technical abilities, can be a match winner anytime

Central midfielders — Sebastian Eguren (32 years old, playing in Spain for Villareal) — has great experience and I hope that his advancing age won’t affect his abilities. Could be replaced with Nacho Gonzalez (31 years old Birmingham player)

— Diego Arismendi (25 years old, playing in Germany for Hamburg) — he’s our playmaker, I don’t know if we can sort things out without him.

Strikers — Edinson Cavani (26 years old, playing for Barcelona) — he is our star player, the leader of the team and the player that can win the games for us.

— Luis Suarez (26 years old, playing for Manchester City) — a great talent that is beginning to show his skills for the national team, I hope he’ll be a big hit at the World Cup. We also have two young strikers, Abel Hernandez and Gonzalo Barretto (21 years old Tottenham player) so I feel quite confident with our attack. Diego Forlan will be 35 years old at the start of the competition, so with all the respect and admiration that I have for him I guess I’ll leave him at home.

That’s about it folks, a new update of the Notts County story will be published tomorrow, or at least I hope so. Until then, please share your thoughts about the Uruguay qualifying campaign and maybe your predictions about the World Cup, how high do you think we can go? I’ll be satisfied just to qualify from the group stage and then see what happens, take it one game at a time…

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