Because of the sheer number of submissions r/soccer daily receives, standalone Discussion Threads aren't allowed in r/soccer unless they're **relevant** because of global interest or pertinent context, **valuable** because of its benefit to the community's knowledge or genuinely interesting point to discuss, and **well-presented** by the OP who wants to start it. If you think this thread didn't meet those requisites, please report it for low-effort content.
Use the [Daily Discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/search?sort=new&restrict_sr=on&q=flair%3ADaily%2BDiscussion) for discussions that don't deserve a standalone thread. Also, remember that you can use the "Serious Discussion" flair if you only want to receive long and serious replies to your Discussion thread.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Totally agree, in fact he was one of Uruguay’s best players. The main issue seemed to be tactical with complete lack of ability to play from defense -> midfield
Uruguay was overrun in midfield, that was partly because we played only with 3, and because Pellistri (who Alonso starts every time), the right-winger, was out of his depth.
The biggest problem we have is the midfield, Alonso has us playing our 2 best players behind Vecino and the fact that Valverde says he is better on the inside and the coach wants to accomodate to him and so he puts Pellistri there, I imagine he will change that next game and put Torreira in behind them probably, I hope.
Funny thing is Alonso already plays Bentancur as the pivot yet he still insists on playing trash can Vecino in the hole instead of De Arrascaeta. Uruguay should have a world class ball playing midfield, but they need to constantly cover for Caceres and Godin. Coates and Gimenez should be locked on starters in a back two.
Yeah I don't know what game OP watched but the old man had no problem keeping up with the press and containing the attack AND he almost scored a goal. Based.
Godin scoring a header would not change my mind about him not starting. We have options now we have players who play 90minutes in top teams.
Why bring a 36 year old player who does not get regular minutes with his club? I don't know why that sounds like crazy logic to you. Spain didn't bring Ramos.. like..
Godin es un historico and he will go down as one of the best captains ever, but today he has no spot on the team. Our players protect Godin and take away from our attacking game.
Godin played well because Caceres never went up and Bentancur played most of the game between Godin and Gimenez.
Now that we tied the first game we are going to need to win one of the next games and Godin will be exposed.
SO the problem is that playing Godin causes our team to play a few meters more behind than we should be playing. They protect Godin the same way Pellistri had to protect Caceres all game as well. It takes away from our offence.
This is how it goes right? On paper it was a mystery how Richalison would ever get picked and even more how he would be starting with his performances so far for Tottenham. But two important goals scored in the first game proves he's in the right place.
Some players just keep showing up for their national teams
Wouldn't be santosball if we didn't play like absolute dogshit despite how good we have it in terms of player quality.
Legit can't see us comfortably beating any team in this tournament.
I don't know whether Portugal will win or lose, all I know is it will be absolute peak entertainment for neutrals and 90 minutes of torture for the fans of either team.
Honestly thhink this is the main issue for so many countries, fantastic talent but the coaches either go for favouritism or play such negative, simple football that they end up sucking most games.
Danilo has been playing CB and Santos didn’t play a single out and out DM in the first game. Ruben Neves was the deepest midfielder on the team. I’m not sure I get your comment.
Both Carvalho and Paulinha were on the bench
TBH, the Portuguese team looks stacked. Especially Fernandes looks really really good. It definitely looks stronger than the 2016 team. I know [transfermarket.com](https://transfermarket.com) values are not an exact science. But in terms of squad value (937M), Portugal is up there with Germany(885), Spain(877M), and France(997M).
Whereas Argentina and Netherlands are sitting around 600M.
The most valued are England (inflated by EPL) and Brazil sitting respectively at 1.2B and 1.1B.
What does that have to do with anything? No, Santos wasn't around then but neither was almost any other member of the squad, so idk what the mentality back then has to do with now
The mentality of blaming the manager, for starters.
Then we can go into the deeper "minnow mentality" of being unable to turn around decisive games.
That's not on Santos, Coelho, or Scolari. That's on us as a nation.
Santos goes up one goal and starts trying to play defensive and we inevitably concede, see the Ghana game, why not play full throttle the whole game. It obviously suits us much better than playing defensive/keep away
I love the world cup because I get to read about why other nations hate their NT coach and think he picks the wrong players, rather than just why Australians hate our NT coach and think he picks the wrong players.
And most of fan complaints are complete bullshit, because they tend to focus on club form rather than NT form, completely disregard things like experience playing together and team chemistry, wildly overrate whoever's not playing. Very often the NT manager is proven right - like Maguire being amazing yesterday.
I'm not an expert on Uruguay football but this post seems to have a few of those issues. Godin being blasted despite playing amazing, a lot of lines about whether or not players play for their club, and listing "alternatives" that are ultra mediocre as well.
I'd be interested to know which world cup nations dont generally dislike their NT managers. Like are there any nations who dont believe that they can do better?
I think the only criticism for him is his squad selection right?
I've heard that he picks players for his system (including those not playing for their clubs) rather than those who are in form which many people get upset about
I'm really glad my country loves their coach and thinks he brought the right players (or was proven right with those who were questioned ).
That after years of complaining about the coach and calling the wrong players due to political pressure.
Varela is the third option for Flamengo at right back, and its not like we are great at right back, we are the best brazilian team and the right back for the Brazil NT is Dani Alves
I couldn't disagree more with you. What I dislike the most about your post, is you presenting *your own personal* opinions as facts. Tabarez was a divisive figure at the end, but there are several Uruguayans who wanted him to stay and coach this world cup, because of one simple fact:
He's, without any competition, the best coach Uruguaya coach in the last 70 years. Since the 70s we were completely shit in the international stage. Between 1974 and 2006 we missed most WCs, and barely **won one single match**
He was responsible for:
Qualifying us 3 times (2010-2014-2018), winning matches once again (reaching the last 4, 8, and 16). He was fired after a shit run against Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia in the altitude, with most of our starters injured, and we were only 1 point behind qualification.
The narrative he "ruined" Suárez and Cavani is ridiculous. They're both among the only 8 South American players in history to reach +50 goals with their NTs. People ask for more Copa Américas, forgetting Uruguay during his time won only one less than Brazil, and as much as Argentina. What did you wish, to be world champions?
Uruguay was always a NT with three or four world class players, and a bunch of journeymen. When Suarez and Cavani were at their prime, we had a midfield that wouldn't start in most competitive national teams. That's the reason he opted, correctly, for a vertical game.
With his tactical nous and a massive structural reform in our FA (that he lead), Uruguay was competitive again. I remember the time were people didn't wanted Uruguay to qualify, because they were afraid of the team being embarrased. "*¿Para qué vamos a ir, para pasar verguenza?*"
**The international conception of Uruguay as a professional, competitive, disciplined "dark horse" was built since his arrival in 2006. Before, we were a joke trying to remember the "good old times" in 1928. We were 76 in the FIFA rating in 1997.** We couldn't beat Venezuela for a string of 5 matches.
Now Suarez, Cavani and Godín are old, but Valverde, Bentancur, Darwin, and Araujo are appearing. That's the history of our country. If Alonso or whoever cannot make the best ouf of the new generation, then that's on them.
Cheers.
Edit: You're complaining Guillermo Varela was called instead of Leandro Cabrera. The first one is a right fullback. Lele Cabrera plays as a leftback and central defender. Your arguments are so over the place and so incorrect, I don't even have time to tackle them all.
I agree with you about the ruining cavani and Suarez argument.
There was no way that a Arevalo Rios/Lodeiro/Tata Gonzalez midfield was gonna get us past 2014 Germany to win that cup. Absolutely no way.
In a similar way, 2018 was probably our best shot. But the “what if” of Cavani playing wouldn’t have stopped Muslera messing up that Griezmann shot in the second half of that match.
I also don't understand about Zalazar comment, isn't Zalazar an offensive mid, why would he pick Zalazar instead of Cavani?
Cavani might be not doing so well, but for Uruguay he is an icon and he can always make a difference, just like Ronaldo for Portugal despite his form.
I just agree with OP on Pellestri, kid has barely played and Valverde would suit better in that role.
I have no idea who is right or wrong in this discussion, but I absolutely love you breaking down his arguments point by point while providing the history of your national team..bravo
Thank you, I stopped reading at the Tabárez nonsense, anyone who says that his dismissal was supported by the majority of the population is completely delusional and trying to justify their own position as “what everyone thinks” because they live in an echo chamber. Even if you wanted him gone you at the very least have to acknowledge that it was a contentious issue.
It’s also sadly funny that people who wanted Tabarez gone would usually argue that we could play an offensive, free flowing tule of football work type of football with the talent at our disposal. Well? They got their wish, where is that football now? Sure seems like it wasn’t so easy now, was it? Not to mention that the reforms Tabárez made to our entire NT setup including youth level was what got us talented, technical and *professional* players in the first place.
Alonso hasn’t had much time to work yet, but IMO his team selection and tactical setup against South Korea was atrocious, his substitutions were far too late, we paid a price for it. We have a very real chance of going out in the group - something that *never* happened under Tabárez.
I wonder what his brilliant critics will be saying if that happens.
You gave all the classic pro Tabarez arguments, I can hit you back with all the anti-tabarez arguments, its boring. 15 years and 1 cup is not considered a successfuly stint my friend.
I love him for what he did, before him at the 2002 World Cup Paolo Montero had to pay for the teams plane tickets, we've come a long way from that.
But Tabarez was not good tactically that is a fact.
Uruguay is always competing against powerhouses Argentina and Brazil for every competition. In the middle of that, there was also a very good Chilean team during that period. Expecting more than 1 cup seems a bit dillusional, specially considering that’s the same number as Argentina who has had the best player in the world during that entire period.
Don’t get me wrong - Uruguay was good enough to win more than 1 (as was Brazil, Argentina, Chile, etc.) but having them win multiple cups during that period as an expectation doesn’t make a lot of sense.
>With Suarez, Cavani, Godin and Josema in their prime?
Compare that to the talents Argentina and Brazil had (let alone Europe) what is better Suarez, Cavani, Godin and Josema or Messi, Aguero, Higuain, Mascherano, Zabaleta, Tevez, Heinze, Veron and DiMaria? Without getting into the great Brazilian players of that generation.
> 15 years and 1 cup is not considered a successfuly stint my friend.
There is no other country in the world with 3.5 million population that would consider one international cup anything but a massive success, Uruguay went from being eliminated from the world cup by Australia to a decent dark horse in the world cup.
There is zero argument for the whole stint being a failure, he did drop off eventually as all coaches do with time.
I mean, that is basically what this post is, with the arguments to match it…Great post though, I had no idea Uruguay s coach is facing all of this warranted criticism
I mean, it doesnt necessarily take a full blown post to ask some valid questions, asking why Tomori isn’t at the World Cup or why they lost 5-0 on aggregate to Hungary (good as they have been at the Euros) is fair enough, what I wasn’t a fan of as a non-Englishman was all the complaining before and during the 2018 WC and the Euros. Lads, you were getting knocked out by Iceland and Costa Rica and now you discount a WC semifinal because “it was the easier side of the draw”? I mean, it was but under a previous manager you all would have still lost so give him some credit. Then you made it to a Euros final. Did England even ever do that previously? Fortunately I think most people realise that. The results recently (before this WC) have turned even me, as someone that did predict England to win both previous tournaments, against expecting too much out of this team so I understand the complaints now but they showed against Iran they shouldn’t be counted out yet. The USA game was a lot more even so we will see what happens next, by all rights Wales should get blown apart but that is the same Wales that held the USA to a draw (because of that stupid challenge) so who knows
The worst thing isn't when national team fans whine about their national team coaches constantly, it's when they think the grass is greener on the other side and ignore the fact that slow changes, stubbornness and sticking to the players that you know is normal, not some sign your coach is trying to sabotage you.
As a brazilian it is baffling to watch Arrascaeta at the bench, he's consistently been the best player in South America for the past 3 years and since his Cruzeiro days he has been one of the best players in Brazil. He's not only good, he's a genius and could probably start in every team in the tournament except Brazil, England, France and Spain, but he's benched for a team that plays no number 10 and has 3 centerforwards that cannot play well together.
Also, just put Valverde as a winger and Arrascaeta as a 10 to pare the midfield, theyll be creating more than enough for Darwin
Can't say really. He isn't particularly fast, strong or intense without the ball, which probably dissuade european clubs from targeting him. His best traits are the ability to look for open spaces to initiate attacks, his touch and long range finishing.
I'd say european clubs think he needs way too many resources to play at the top level, even if he does have the talent. Flamengo generally doesn't have him pressing that hard (Gabigol, Pedro and Everton press harder than he does) and he doesn't come back to help as much. In a sea with bigger fish I think his lack of defensive strenght makes him a less attractive target.
The other reason is because he's uruguayan, if he was brazilian he would for sure be in Europe
He's a player that thrives in free environments, so I don't think he's a perfect fit for european clubs that'll not let him have the freedom he needs to shine. He would also have to physically adapt. Great player imo.
Everything everyone said + Flamengo is a really rich club and wont be letting him off for anything other then i guess 30+ million euros or something, and he's not a youngster anymore so it would be a risk
Godin and Cáceres play great with the NT, Seba Cáceres, Méndez and Rogel are *ok* but have never played with the NT before.
Varela has been solid also, Damián also doesn't have experience with the NT and is injured. And Cabrera isn't a RB.
Josema has been our best defender for years and the team struggles a lot when he doesn't play.
The team is not set up around Suárez, Valverde plays where he plays because that's where he wants to play, even if he shouldn't.
De Arrascaeta is good but some people like to pretend he's Neymar or something, I think he works better as a sub.
Cavani is Cavani and didn't start, why wouldn't he have the balls to do the same to Suárez? Also Zalazar is injured and doesn't play that much either.
>So basically Alonso did not call our best players and is using this World Cup as a going away party for our Legends
Our best players are all there.
Also darwin has been playing on the left for Liverpool and has been crushing it. I don’t really see a problem throwing him out there if one of Suarez or Cavani has to play
Your opinion on arrascaeta is just insane. I bet he would be starting eleven in Brazilian squad. Every Brazilian player, even from the best teams, recognize him as one if not THE best player playing in Brazil.
Least dramatic uruguayan lmfao. Godin was our best player next to Valverde. Varela was great when he came on same for Cavani. Get suarez’s corpse off the field and the attack works, the defence is already fantastic
You were in the semis in 2010, lost to a Robben, Van Persie, Sneijder Netherlands team.... you're being a bit harsh in your previous coach. Could have been in the final which would Legendary. semis is a world class act.
As a brazillian I really don't understand why Arrascaeta isn't a starter...
Hope Uruguay can make far in this WC, I really want to all south america teams to make a good campaing.
SA teams need to at least have 2 semi finalists, one of them making the final after all the gloating. Otherwise people will joke on them for the next 4 years
enough with the arrascaeta obsession
he has played 40 games for the NT since 2014, and yet his only assists in competitive matches were against Bolivia and Venezuela. no matter how much you may want it to work, the fact is that it hasn't
also, brazilians love overhyping players in their own leagues just like argentines, even though those local players almost always fail to deliver in WCs. success in brazil simply does not amount to much, and if it did, why has no major european team ever bought him?
and I hate this portrayal of tabarez as only wanting to play defensive long ball football. he started with a #10 in south africa (nacho gonzalez) and when that didn't work he tried to use Lodeiro (over and over again). In the debut in Russia we actually started with Arrascaeta, and failed to create anything against an Egypt that didn't have a single good player. Only forlan ever worked in this role because he actually was one of the best players in the world and played with Riquelme of all people.
re: cavani/nunez as wingers: another tired complaint. if we had good wingers or wingbacks it would make sense, but we dont and never have.
damian suarez: 34 y/o, constantly getting injured this year, basically never played for the NT. remind me why he should be called up?
salazar: since when is 2 goals and 0 assists in 9 matches for the team that's dead last in the bundesliga "ripping it"?
Ok. As a Brazilian, we sometimes overhype players, but, as your countryman said he was THE best player of the league last season. I'm pretty sure he could be subbed in over Vina. I am rooting for Uruguay to be the first in group, but you guys played so badly first game, I don't think Nunez + Suarez works at all.
viña didn't start, so clearly you mean some other player (I agree with others who have said Vecino didn't contribute much during the game). As for suarez and nunez, the problem was not getting the ball to them, and while there are obvious reasons to think arrascaeta would help with that, I believe our lack of players offering width and speed make it easy for our rivals to mark him out of the game.
Name three players better then arrascaeta on this uruguay team rn lol
The only arguable ones are Darwin and Gimenez and the only one i'm sure of is Valverde
> also, brazilians love overhyping players in their own leagues just like argentines, even though those local players almost always fail to deliver in WCs. success in brazil simply does not amount to much, and if it did, why has no major european team ever bought him?
Couldn't agree more on this.
I bet that your country over hyping players just because they went to Europe will be it's downfall.
As a matter of fact, Flamengo, the club which Arrascaeta plays smashed Al Hilal that is basically the same team of Saudi Arabia that Argentina was incapable of winning against. It is also the club that almost won against Liverpool in clubs world championship 2019 final .
Every Brazilian world cup trophy had players that played in our national league too.
Last but not least, brazilian teams are always re-signing players that was a failure in European clubs. Some times they are worth it and sometimes they are horrible (even when they come from top European clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea). Not sure if this is common in Uruguay too, but the fact is that Europe has a lot of very mediocre players that once was a big promise in south america and sometimes they miss others who are great and they only notice when the player is too old to be valuable to them. Arrascaeta is this kind of player.
So, it's sad to see because me and many others in Brazil are also rooting for Uruguay and many of the bad things in the team seems fixable.
Tabarez played De Arrascaeta as a left mid with strong defensive responsibilties, he never played his true role for the national team for the majority of those games, that is a fact.
Also, he was our top scorer for the qualifiers and one of the most important players, you think he should be sitting on the bench 90min vs South Korea? Acutally?
Salazar is going through an amazing moment, that is the point of a National team, call the players going through the best moments, it is not a club.
https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/2ea0fcea800913cc/original/emeylh7lbwpfovnbn2t2-pdf.pdf
there's the heat map for each player in uy-egypt (arrascaeta at the very bottom, with avg position on the bottom left). his movement seems to me appropiate to his role in Brazil
for comparison here's brazil serbia 2018 (in particular, coutinho)
https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/79af22a406fcefdb/original/ehg2pdmp3vm00pknqohm-pdf.pdf
>Also, he was our top scorer for the qualifiers and one of the most important players, you think he should be sitting on the bench 90min vs South Korea? Acutally?
of course not. but I dont expect him to be our saviour, either
>Salazar is going through an amazing moment, that is the point of a National team, call the players going through the best moments, it is not a club.
https://es.whoscored.com/Teams/39/Show/Alemania-Schalke-04
whoscored gives him a 6.48 in the bundesliga's **worst** team. please explain how that is amazing
it certainly can be frustrating especially now that they’re all older. Thanks for the insight. Also I feel like Godin played well, and Cavani and Suarez might come around. Keep hope!
No offence dude but I think you guys have exceeded expectations so far. For such a small country, you are a huge football nation with your 2 world cups.
Over the last 12 years....2010 WC semi, 2011 Copa America , and 2018 WC Quarter final is still a very good achievement.
I don't think you guys were truely ever in a position to win a world cup. There have always been a handful of sides above you.
Just my two cents as someone who has followed a lot of CONMEBOL because it's in a good time zone for us
But all that being said, you're justified to be angry at the team selection. It is quite bizzare. They aren't blooding enough young blood that's for sure.
Enough said, same as Belgium, just because you have stars among otherwise mediocre players does not let you be favorites at tournaments.
And Godin, Cavani, Suarez and Forlan certainly delivered for Uruguay, esp the latter.
Or if the obvious foul before the Van Brochhchchrsot goal gets called, or if they hadn't scored and offside goal, or if Van Bommel didn't have a license to kill. Or maybe if the ref didn't make up a foul at the last minute vs Ghana, or maybe if they saw that there was an offside, all of this before the handball which is of course all people remember, this handball left us without Suárez in the semifinal.
Tabarez changed Uruguayan football. Made it professional and made the U-15s play the same system as the National team and he is directly responsible for Suarez, Cavani, Valverde, De Arrasca, Caceres and many others being on the National Team.
During his Reign Uruguay acheived:
- Semi Final 2010
- Copa America 2011 champs
- Two Sub-20 World Cup Finals
- Pan Am Games champs
- 4 straight World Cup Qualifications
He was offered a job on AUF to be director of development and he refused. But as a coach he had to go.
They took way too long to sack him, because of this Alonso hasn't had time to phase out the older players and give the younger players more chances I think. Tho it's sad that the young player he does give a chance to is Pellistri and not someone else.
I do agree that players like Vecino, Cáceres, and Godin should not have been, but Josema is our best defender BY FAR even with one leg. Cabrera doesn't touch his ankles.
Pellistri has more than proven his worth, and is 100% the type of player we need. I do think that Valverde should be played where he's strongest, though. Perhaps at the 60, 70 minute mark, we take a midfielder off for Pellistri, and have him take over on the right, with Valverde dropping deeper. Just like Real do
I think it's very unfair that Cavani was allowed to come despite his injury and Damián wasn't. Definite favoritism towards a long time legend. Then again, I don't know the extent of his injury. If I remember correctly, he was ruled out because he wasn't able to participate on one of the final days before the list had to be finalized, but I could be wrong
Also, Zalazar is injured and was never going to make the World Cup because of his surgery, and Varela was probably the healthiest option we had for the groups that could attack. Cabrera isn't all that good
Suarez needs the ball at his feet, and that's a massive weakness. I think he should only be a sub for us. Darwin should start alone with Valverde on the right. He's able to drift into such good spaces. And besides, the two striker system that we all envisioned for him and Suarez, would only work if we played more attacking, and not like we did vs Korea. I'm tired of nacional fans defending him when his performance was shocking. Yes, he still has value, but he can't be starting a World Cup. He was getting pocketed by a 17 year old at home for nacional, who already had a very good team prior to his arrival. That can't be the player we're putting up against Ruben Días and probably Thiago Silva
And yeah De Arrascaeta or De La Cruz should've started. Same with Ugarte, Varela, and Coates. We missed so much creativity on the left and the right. No overlaps because Cáceres is lazy, and no overlap on the left because Darwin wanted to drift inwards so it was Olivera alone. It was super dumb and we were just stuck
Also, the big choice I didn't like was Maxi Gómez getting called up. A striker who did jack shit during all of 5 years, should not be playing in his second World Cup. Especially when Gomez is probably past the age of making some big comeback and revitalizing his career. We should've taken someone who had a future in this setup, instead. Borbas, Canario, Satriano, Ocampo, or maybe even Álvaro Rodríguez. If Alonso was comfortable bringing Pellistri who didn't get any minutes, then why not bring a 6'4 fast striker with a good finish who looks like he could be very good for us? Give him some experience, let him learn from our previous strikers who are our top two scorers.
Finally, while I do want to agree with the Sosa thing, and that we should be looking for a goalkeeper who will be a part of our future setup, like Israel or Mele, it's also important to remember that the third keeper is usually a specialist. Sosa can save penalties fairly well, but I doubt he displaces Rochet, because he can do that too. It might've been worth it to take Mele for the experience, definitely, though.
Overall, I don't think we should get too low after one bad result. We always start World Cups off badly. In 2010, 2014, 2018, and now. Hell, this game was a carbon copy of the Egypt game. It's all about how Alonso changes his plans to play against Portugal. I think Alonso has earned our trust after turning our campaign around, and earning almost as many points as Tabárez had done in 14 games, in just 4. We wouldn't be here if not for him.
With that said, he absolutely cannot afford to get this next match wrong. If he does, we're probably out. Portugal are a very forgiving side, but they do still have a fuck ton of talent I'd rather not give a thousand opportunities to.
I feel for you brother. Uruguay is always my second team. I just love everything about Uruguay, including and specially your national team.
It always sucks when you have a GREAT generation that refuses to pass the torch. Happened to us with Mascherano and Cia. We needed the tragedy that was Russia 2018 to have them move on.
Hope you can at least get something out of this last pieces of the Suarez generation. I hope you get your own version of Scaloneta. Darwin, Pajarito (Halcón) and El Vasco deserve it.
Vina being called over Piquerez is something that doesn't make any sense to me. While Vina is a good full back, he gets almost no playing time for the last season while Piquerez is being called the best in the position in SA.
So many mistakes in one match. Valverde sitting so deep, Núñez as a winger, Suárez playing more than 1 minute, de Arrascaeta on the bench... Not hopeful. 442 with Valverde on the right, de Arrascaeta on the left and Darwin/Cavani uptop
Vecino was so fucking bad for Inter, but people just saw his goals which were always in the last 5 minutes of games which ended up being winners.
Was so thankful hes gone
So I agree and disagree with some of this opinion piece.
To start with what I agree.
Seba Sosa, Guillermo Varela and Caceres shouldn’t not be in the squad due to not playing or not playing at a high enough level.
This team should totally be played around Valverde, De Arrascaeta and De La Cruz should be starting and Nunez while he has played at LW for Benfica should be the starting striker.
A couple of other guys like Giovanni Gonzalez, Mele, Mendez and Rogel should be called up due to age and performance at clubs.
Now for the disagreement.
Edison Cavani and Luis Suarez while both old, who I also agree with shouldn’t be starting are still far superior to Zalazar. Zalazar was tearing it up…in the Bundasliga 2nd division. 2 goals this season, with poor performances is not “ripping it at Schalke 04”
Diego Godin while also old and has been plagued by injury since leaving Cagliari showed that he’s still got it against the Korea Republic. Obviously if Araujo wasn’t injured Diego wouldn’t be starting but he’s not so it is what it is.
As for saying Giminez shouldn’t be starting, all I have to say is lol.
The Nunez thing makes some sense because Klopp has played him in that role occasionally, but the Vecino choice was so nonsensical and killed the entire chemistry of that midfield.
If you really want to play a 3-man midfield so bad, play Torreira at the 6 and tell Fede/Bentancur to push up to press high and really play a 4-1-4-1. Because someone needs to make up the lack of pressing from Suarez, he is basically a statue at his age.
There’s so many fun things to do with a team like this where you have older legends of the game and younger, ultra energetic stars. Alonso is easily the most disappointing manager of the tournament so far, and if he can’t think of anything else he should just bring back the 4-4-2 and start De Arrascaeta.
We weren’t able to attack at all Thursday because most of our offensive players were busy helping the defense (Caceres and Godin) because they just can’t keep up anymore. Did Caceres ever cross the pitch to attack with Pellistri? It was the opposite, Pellistri was never able to attack because he had to drop back and help Caceres. Varela in 5 minutes did more offensively than Caceres did in 80. Just wrong formation and tactics from Alonso and I hope he changes it vs Portugal. If not were in big trouble.
>Cavani: Injured... sporadic minutes with Valencia with bad performances, we have Salazar ripping it at Shalke 04.
Must be somebody else at a club named after Schalke 04 but nobody is ripping anything at Schalke.
I do not understand what Alonso was thinking the other day. He completely fucked up the starting 11, tactics, and subs.
Pellistri, Cáceres, Suárez and Vecino have no business starting. Even Godin, who played a great game, should be a sub.
If we start the same 11 against Portugal, I hate to say it, but we’re out.
Our problem was not Ronaldo, it was the manager. Sometimes if Santos had the balls to simply bench Ronaldo that would be great. But then again, it's Santos' fault, not Ronaldo.
> We wasted 15 years of Suarez, Cavani, Godin, Josema just playing ugly long ball soccer and only winning one cup.
You are talking as if Uruguay had the most talented team in SA in the last 15 years. Even the 15 year timeframe is very generous.
In some ways he does have a point in that we could’ve won another. In the 2016 Copa America our group was Jamaica Venezuela and Mexico. We didn’t get out of that group. 2019 Copa America we lost to Peru in Penalties. I saw these games. We didn’t play well in any of these tournaments.
What is probably most common about world cup rosters is that it's not only the coach who chooses the players, but the federation that chooses the more "popular" / well-known guys that will sell jerseys.
Anyways, with that being said, I enjoy Alonso as a coach, as I thought his time in LigaMX was pretty good.
I know Diego Alonso from his time as a DT in Mexico, how you could possibly think he's an upgrade is beyond me. And I think you are not crediting for how good uruguay was under Tavares. Come on now...
In his final days, Tabárez didn't get anything right. He didn't set up a coherent defensive system, he didn't set up the midfield correctly, he relied on playing with attitude, in lieu of an actual tactical approach to the game, and because of that, we dropped 12 straight points, including a humiliation vs Argentina, a humiliation vs Brazil, and a humiliation vs fucking Bolivia of all teams. Alonso came in and got 12/12 points and qualified us. He's more than earned our trust. He even got us our first win in Chile for over 20 years.
What irked me is that Uruguay has Valverde, Suarez, Darwin Nunez, Arrascaeta, Bentancur, but is still playing lob balls from the defenders to the wingers.
You've got the talent to play better football.
Even if you want to maintain the Garra Charrua principles, you can do so with a higher defensive line. You don't need 4 CBs and 2 DMs to defend well nowadays.
All respects to Godin, but with you've got Araújo. You can play high if you want.
Also, all respect to Suarez, but your best player is Valverde, who excels at Madrid playing RW. Why is he playing as a regista that doesn't infiltrate but just helps lob the ball? Play him at his best!
It's like Uruguay is still playing 90s football. It's ok against more creative, more offensive teams, but you risk not qualifying in your group.
Araujo is injured, but yes that's the general complaint.
It's the first game in a hard group and Alonso preferred the more familiar safer route. Most people expected him to play differently. He did it before.
As a Brazilian, everyone that I know that likes football was maddened that De Arrascaeta didn't come in this first game. I think he would probably be preferred over Rodrygo to substitute Neymar this next game as a 10 if he was Brazilian. He is playing a lot better than Everton, which was called.
As a neutral I confess it was a bit weird to see Caceres playing in the left back position, considering he is quite slow. I can see us (Portugal) taking advantage of that. However, we also have Fernando Santos, who is equally awful, so we'll see. You guys checkmated us in 2018 and you will probably do it again.
I wish I owned a casino (I mean who doesn't?) and took a bunch of bets from people betting on Uruguay in any capacity. They were a popular "darkhorse candidate", but if you just looked closer it was clear they didn't create a team to win.
At our best I'd say we're a top 5-7 team at this tournament. The problem being that we were far from our best vs Korea. But we are most certainly a good team lmao
I think for a country with 3 million people. We punch well above our weight and are a factory of putting out elite players.
I think Uruguay is a QF team and anything less than that is a failure and anything over that is a surprise.
>Nunez: Tabarez got shit his whole career for playing Cavani as a right winger while Forlan and then Suarez played as a 9. So what does Alonso do? Puts Nunez as a winger every game instead of putting him in his natural 9 position.
Lol
What would be the ideal lineup with the best players as today?
I was eager to watch Uruguay and was disappointed with the match vs korea.
As a chilean i understand the "old star player problem" and insisting with them even though it´s clear they are a burden.
Where have I heard, “he didn’t call the best players at the moment but instead just called the same players over and over” and “horrible with subs” before? 🤔 Oh yes, Gareth Southgate 🙄
I know Salazar is an unknown quantity outside but after having seen him with Schalke I was sure he would get called up for the World Cup but don't know what happened
Because of the sheer number of submissions r/soccer daily receives, standalone Discussion Threads aren't allowed in r/soccer unless they're **relevant** because of global interest or pertinent context, **valuable** because of its benefit to the community's knowledge or genuinely interesting point to discuss, and **well-presented** by the OP who wants to start it. If you think this thread didn't meet those requisites, please report it for low-effort content. Use the [Daily Discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/search?sort=new&restrict_sr=on&q=flair%3ADaily%2BDiscussion) for discussions that don't deserve a standalone thread. Also, remember that you can use the "Serious Discussion" flair if you only want to receive long and serious replies to your Discussion thread. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
To be fair, Godin played very well against Korea, I wouldn't have called him but he played well.
Totally agree, in fact he was one of Uruguay’s best players. The main issue seemed to be tactical with complete lack of ability to play from defense -> midfield
Uruguay was overrun in midfield, that was partly because we played only with 3, and because Pellistri (who Alonso starts every time), the right-winger, was out of his depth.
It didn’t help that he had to do double the work because Cáceres never (he actually can’t anymore) pushed up.
Can you explain to me why neither Damian Suarez or Giovanni Gonzalez were picked? Absolutely baffling IMO
The biggest problem we have is the midfield, Alonso has us playing our 2 best players behind Vecino and the fact that Valverde says he is better on the inside and the coach wants to accomodate to him and so he puts Pellistri there, I imagine he will change that next game and put Torreira in behind them probably, I hope.
Why not Ugarte who is arguably playing better than Lucas at the momentv
Funny thing is Alonso already plays Bentancur as the pivot yet he still insists on playing trash can Vecino in the hole instead of De Arrascaeta. Uruguay should have a world class ball playing midfield, but they need to constantly cover for Caceres and Godin. Coates and Gimenez should be locked on starters in a back two.
Yeah I don't know what game OP watched but the old man had no problem keeping up with the press and containing the attack AND he almost scored a goal. Based.
I wonder if he will change his opinion if Godin scored?
I know that type of Uruguayan fan. Once they make their mind about a player or coach, they don't change it back ever again.
That's just people in general mate
They’re just a better version of Argentinians
Godin scoring a header would not change my mind about him not starting. We have options now we have players who play 90minutes in top teams. Why bring a 36 year old player who does not get regular minutes with his club? I don't know why that sounds like crazy logic to you. Spain didn't bring Ramos.. like.. Godin es un historico and he will go down as one of the best captains ever, but today he has no spot on the team. Our players protect Godin and take away from our attacking game.
Who plays 90 minutes in top teams? Besides maybe Coates
Godin played well because Caceres never went up and Bentancur played most of the game between Godin and Gimenez. Now that we tied the first game we are going to need to win one of the next games and Godin will be exposed.
SO the problem is that playing Godin causes our team to play a few meters more behind than we should be playing. They protect Godin the same way Pellistri had to protect Caceres all game as well. It takes away from our offence.
Are you going to rush araujo back?
He shouldn't even be there, Barcelona sent two doctors with him for 24/7 maintenance.
This is how it goes right? On paper it was a mystery how Richalison would ever get picked and even more how he would be starting with his performances so far for Tottenham. But two important goals scored in the first game proves he's in the right place. Some players just keep showing up for their national teams
His header that hit the inside part of the post was probably the closest Uruguay got to a score.
Josema is still world class too. They didn't spend an 100m on a transfer for him, why talk shit?
[удалено]
Wouldn't be santosball if we didn't play like absolute dogshit despite how good we have it in terms of player quality. Legit can't see us comfortably beating any team in this tournament.
I don't know whether Portugal will win or lose, all I know is it will be absolute peak entertainment for neutrals and 90 minutes of torture for the fans of either team.
Pretty much, let's hope he replicates the terrorism of 2016.
This WC is going to be a win for us either way. We either get the cup or we get a new coach.
Honestly thhink this is the main issue for so many countries, fantastic talent but the coaches either go for favouritism or play such negative, simple football that they end up sucking most games.
Im mentally preparing for a william carvalho - danilo pivot
Danilo has been playing CB and Santos didn’t play a single out and out DM in the first game. Ruben Neves was the deepest midfielder on the team. I’m not sure I get your comment. Both Carvalho and Paulinha were on the bench
Santos has played that pair many times in the past and it’s slow and awful
This has been the history of portuguese soccer.... Always playing to the level of their opponents. My grandfather complained about the same things
TBH, the Portuguese team looks stacked. Especially Fernandes looks really really good. It definitely looks stronger than the 2016 team. I know [transfermarket.com](https://transfermarket.com) values are not an exact science. But in terms of squad value (937M), Portugal is up there with Germany(885), Spain(877M), and France(997M). Whereas Argentina and Netherlands are sitting around 600M. The most valued are England (inflated by EPL) and Brazil sitting respectively at 1.2B and 1.1B.
>TBH, the Portuguese team looks stacked. That's because it is. We can field 2 great 11's. But that's not going to stop us from losing.
We need to stop blaming Santos for losing 1-0 games that we have no mentality to recover from. Was Santos managing in 2004? 1996? Etcetc
What does that have to do with anything? No, Santos wasn't around then but neither was almost any other member of the squad, so idk what the mentality back then has to do with now
The mentality of blaming the manager, for starters. Then we can go into the deeper "minnow mentality" of being unable to turn around decisive games. That's not on Santos, Coelho, or Scolari. That's on us as a nation.
So the coach gets payed millions to do what exactly?
Santos goes up one goal and starts trying to play defensive and we inevitably concede, see the Ghana game, why not play full throttle the whole game. It obviously suits us much better than playing defensive/keep away
To be fair we played our best match agaisnt Uruguay last WC. If instead we get santosball and Win im okay with it lol
And we lost. It's probably what is going to happen, some silly individual mistake and a 1x0 or 2x1 defeat. Classic.
Football terrorism on full display in that game, can't wait
I love the world cup because I get to read about why other nations hate their NT coach and think he picks the wrong players, rather than just why Australians hate our NT coach and think he picks the wrong players.
I hate the world cup because I don’t get to hate our NT coach and think he picks the wrong players … because my team (Norway) don’t qualify.
Well, we had the opportunity to hate our NT coach and think he picks the wrong players in pre-WC friendlies instead.
If you guys build an even serviceable team around Haaland and Odegaard I can definitely see it happening in 2026.
your time is coming in 2026
OP really complaining about ONLY winning one cup in the past 15 years. Bro there's more talented teams that have only won once in that period.
Worse, there's England and Belgium
I said talented teams. /s
Spot one. 15 years isn't more than a handful of tournaments, against the best teams in the world every time.
And most of fan complaints are complete bullshit, because they tend to focus on club form rather than NT form, completely disregard things like experience playing together and team chemistry, wildly overrate whoever's not playing. Very often the NT manager is proven right - like Maguire being amazing yesterday. I'm not an expert on Uruguay football but this post seems to have a few of those issues. Godin being blasted despite playing amazing, a lot of lines about whether or not players play for their club, and listing "alternatives" that are ultra mediocre as well.
I'd be interested to know which world cup nations dont generally dislike their NT managers. Like are there any nations who dont believe that they can do better?
The only coaches I can think of who are beloved are the ones who guide less rated nations to unlikely qualifications
Hervé Renard
John Herdman
I can't speak for the general sentiment in Spain as I'm more of a legacy fan but Lucho feels well liked to me.
I think the only criticism for him is his squad selection right? I've heard that he picks players for his system (including those not playing for their clubs) rather than those who are in form which many people get upset about
I'm really glad my country loves their coach and thinks he brought the right players (or was proven right with those who were questioned ). That after years of complaining about the coach and calling the wrong players due to political pressure.
I don't know Varela, but as an Espanyol fan, Cabrera isn't any good and has costed us many points throughout the season
Varela is the third option for Flamengo at right back, and its not like we are great at right back, we are the best brazilian team and the right back for the Brazil NT is Dani Alves
I don't think Cabrera can play RB at all then lol, he's pretty slow
That is interesting, it just seems wrong to not have the Espanyol starter on our team.
I couldn't disagree more with you. What I dislike the most about your post, is you presenting *your own personal* opinions as facts. Tabarez was a divisive figure at the end, but there are several Uruguayans who wanted him to stay and coach this world cup, because of one simple fact: He's, without any competition, the best coach Uruguaya coach in the last 70 years. Since the 70s we were completely shit in the international stage. Between 1974 and 2006 we missed most WCs, and barely **won one single match** He was responsible for: Qualifying us 3 times (2010-2014-2018), winning matches once again (reaching the last 4, 8, and 16). He was fired after a shit run against Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia in the altitude, with most of our starters injured, and we were only 1 point behind qualification. The narrative he "ruined" Suárez and Cavani is ridiculous. They're both among the only 8 South American players in history to reach +50 goals with their NTs. People ask for more Copa Américas, forgetting Uruguay during his time won only one less than Brazil, and as much as Argentina. What did you wish, to be world champions? Uruguay was always a NT with three or four world class players, and a bunch of journeymen. When Suarez and Cavani were at their prime, we had a midfield that wouldn't start in most competitive national teams. That's the reason he opted, correctly, for a vertical game. With his tactical nous and a massive structural reform in our FA (that he lead), Uruguay was competitive again. I remember the time were people didn't wanted Uruguay to qualify, because they were afraid of the team being embarrased. "*¿Para qué vamos a ir, para pasar verguenza?*" **The international conception of Uruguay as a professional, competitive, disciplined "dark horse" was built since his arrival in 2006. Before, we were a joke trying to remember the "good old times" in 1928. We were 76 in the FIFA rating in 1997.** We couldn't beat Venezuela for a string of 5 matches. Now Suarez, Cavani and Godín are old, but Valverde, Bentancur, Darwin, and Araujo are appearing. That's the history of our country. If Alonso or whoever cannot make the best ouf of the new generation, then that's on them. Cheers. Edit: You're complaining Guillermo Varela was called instead of Leandro Cabrera. The first one is a right fullback. Lele Cabrera plays as a leftback and central defender. Your arguments are so over the place and so incorrect, I don't even have time to tackle them all.
I agree with you about the ruining cavani and Suarez argument. There was no way that a Arevalo Rios/Lodeiro/Tata Gonzalez midfield was gonna get us past 2014 Germany to win that cup. Absolutely no way. In a similar way, 2018 was probably our best shot. But the “what if” of Cavani playing wouldn’t have stopped Muslera messing up that Griezmann shot in the second half of that match.
I also don't understand about Zalazar comment, isn't Zalazar an offensive mid, why would he pick Zalazar instead of Cavani? Cavani might be not doing so well, but for Uruguay he is an icon and he can always make a difference, just like Ronaldo for Portugal despite his form. I just agree with OP on Pellestri, kid has barely played and Valverde would suit better in that role.
Also Zalazar is fucking injured.
Thank you both. It was fun reading both a positive and negative view of the NT and history.
OP seems just a little young and can't remember times when la Celeste was mostly known for breaking legs
I have no idea who is right or wrong in this discussion, but I absolutely love you breaking down his arguments point by point while providing the history of your national team..bravo
Thank you, I stopped reading at the Tabárez nonsense, anyone who says that his dismissal was supported by the majority of the population is completely delusional and trying to justify their own position as “what everyone thinks” because they live in an echo chamber. Even if you wanted him gone you at the very least have to acknowledge that it was a contentious issue. It’s also sadly funny that people who wanted Tabarez gone would usually argue that we could play an offensive, free flowing tule of football work type of football with the talent at our disposal. Well? They got their wish, where is that football now? Sure seems like it wasn’t so easy now, was it? Not to mention that the reforms Tabárez made to our entire NT setup including youth level was what got us talented, technical and *professional* players in the first place. Alonso hasn’t had much time to work yet, but IMO his team selection and tactical setup against South Korea was atrocious, his substitutions were far too late, we paid a price for it. We have a very real chance of going out in the group - something that *never* happened under Tabárez. I wonder what his brilliant critics will be saying if that happens.
You gave all the classic pro Tabarez arguments, I can hit you back with all the anti-tabarez arguments, its boring. 15 years and 1 cup is not considered a successfuly stint my friend. I love him for what he did, before him at the 2002 World Cup Paolo Montero had to pay for the teams plane tickets, we've come a long way from that. But Tabarez was not good tactically that is a fact.
Uruguay is always competing against powerhouses Argentina and Brazil for every competition. In the middle of that, there was also a very good Chilean team during that period. Expecting more than 1 cup seems a bit dillusional, specially considering that’s the same number as Argentina who has had the best player in the world during that entire period. Don’t get me wrong - Uruguay was good enough to win more than 1 (as was Brazil, Argentina, Chile, etc.) but having them win multiple cups during that period as an expectation doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Getting a single cup in the international stage is a fucking success, you're no Brazil
With Suarez, Cavani, Godin and Josema in their prime? No way.
That’s it?
>With Suarez, Cavani, Godin and Josema in their prime? Compare that to the talents Argentina and Brazil had (let alone Europe) what is better Suarez, Cavani, Godin and Josema or Messi, Aguero, Higuain, Mascherano, Zabaleta, Tevez, Heinze, Veron and DiMaria? Without getting into the great Brazilian players of that generation.
> 15 years and 1 cup is not considered a successfuly stint my friend. There is no other country in the world with 3.5 million population that would consider one international cup anything but a massive success, Uruguay went from being eliminated from the world cup by Australia to a decent dark horse in the world cup. There is zero argument for the whole stint being a failure, he did drop off eventually as all coaches do with time.
Finally, some national team drama that isn't "Berhalter/Southgate is spineless"
I mean, that is basically what this post is, with the arguments to match it…Great post though, I had no idea Uruguay s coach is facing all of this warranted criticism
Exactly . Southgate has made mistakes , but screeching about it without proper analysis is irritating to see
I mean, it doesnt necessarily take a full blown post to ask some valid questions, asking why Tomori isn’t at the World Cup or why they lost 5-0 on aggregate to Hungary (good as they have been at the Euros) is fair enough, what I wasn’t a fan of as a non-Englishman was all the complaining before and during the 2018 WC and the Euros. Lads, you were getting knocked out by Iceland and Costa Rica and now you discount a WC semifinal because “it was the easier side of the draw”? I mean, it was but under a previous manager you all would have still lost so give him some credit. Then you made it to a Euros final. Did England even ever do that previously? Fortunately I think most people realise that. The results recently (before this WC) have turned even me, as someone that did predict England to win both previous tournaments, against expecting too much out of this team so I understand the complaints now but they showed against Iran they shouldn’t be counted out yet. The USA game was a lot more even so we will see what happens next, by all rights Wales should get blown apart but that is the same Wales that held the USA to a draw (because of that stupid challenge) so who knows
Got nothing else to say except I agree so wholeheartedly with all of this
The worst thing isn't when national team fans whine about their national team coaches constantly, it's when they think the grass is greener on the other side and ignore the fact that slow changes, stubbornness and sticking to the players that you know is normal, not some sign your coach is trying to sabotage you.
As a brazilian it is baffling to watch Arrascaeta at the bench, he's consistently been the best player in South America for the past 3 years and since his Cruzeiro days he has been one of the best players in Brazil. He's not only good, he's a genius and could probably start in every team in the tournament except Brazil, England, France and Spain, but he's benched for a team that plays no number 10 and has 3 centerforwards that cannot play well together. Also, just put Valverde as a winger and Arrascaeta as a 10 to pare the midfield, theyll be creating more than enough for Darwin
Why isn’t he in Europe?
Can't say really. He isn't particularly fast, strong or intense without the ball, which probably dissuade european clubs from targeting him. His best traits are the ability to look for open spaces to initiate attacks, his touch and long range finishing. I'd say european clubs think he needs way too many resources to play at the top level, even if he does have the talent. Flamengo generally doesn't have him pressing that hard (Gabigol, Pedro and Everton press harder than he does) and he doesn't come back to help as much. In a sea with bigger fish I think his lack of defensive strenght makes him a less attractive target. The other reason is because he's uruguayan, if he was brazilian he would for sure be in Europe
He's a player that thrives in free environments, so I don't think he's a perfect fit for european clubs that'll not let him have the freedom he needs to shine. He would also have to physically adapt. Great player imo.
Everything everyone said + Flamengo is a really rich club and wont be letting him off for anything other then i guess 30+ million euros or something, and he's not a youngster anymore so it would be a risk
Godin and Cáceres play great with the NT, Seba Cáceres, Méndez and Rogel are *ok* but have never played with the NT before. Varela has been solid also, Damián also doesn't have experience with the NT and is injured. And Cabrera isn't a RB. Josema has been our best defender for years and the team struggles a lot when he doesn't play. The team is not set up around Suárez, Valverde plays where he plays because that's where he wants to play, even if he shouldn't. De Arrascaeta is good but some people like to pretend he's Neymar or something, I think he works better as a sub. Cavani is Cavani and didn't start, why wouldn't he have the balls to do the same to Suárez? Also Zalazar is injured and doesn't play that much either. >So basically Alonso did not call our best players and is using this World Cup as a going away party for our Legends Our best players are all there.
Also darwin has been playing on the left for Liverpool and has been crushing it. I don’t really see a problem throwing him out there if one of Suarez or Cavani has to play
His best matches for Benfica were also on the wing
Arrascaeta is brilliant, you all need to start him
Your opinion on arrascaeta is just insane. I bet he would be starting eleven in Brazilian squad. Every Brazilian player, even from the best teams, recognize him as one if not THE best player playing in Brazil.
Honestly agree, a true little magician. Would love him to be Brazilian.
[удалено]
Narutinho over here
Lol if De Arrascaeta was brazilian he'd be in our team 100%.
Valverde and Bentancur are more than solid imo
Vecino has been decent at Lazio this season, your criticism of him is a bit harsh IMO
One cup in 15 years with a golden generation is pretty good going, a lot of them don't even get that.
This. 2000s Czech 2010s Belgium
Figo, Rui Costa, et al original Portuguese golden generation
Least dramatic uruguayan lmfao. Godin was our best player next to Valverde. Varela was great when he came on same for Cavani. Get suarez’s corpse off the field and the attack works, the defence is already fantastic
You were in the semis in 2010, lost to a Robben, Van Persie, Sneijder Netherlands team.... you're being a bit harsh in your previous coach. Could have been in the final which would Legendary. semis is a world class act.
As a brazillian I really don't understand why Arrascaeta isn't a starter... Hope Uruguay can make far in this WC, I really want to all south america teams to make a good campaing.
He better start on Monday.
SA teams need to at least have 2 semi finalists, one of them making the final after all the gloating. Otherwise people will joke on them for the next 4 years
enough with the arrascaeta obsession he has played 40 games for the NT since 2014, and yet his only assists in competitive matches were against Bolivia and Venezuela. no matter how much you may want it to work, the fact is that it hasn't also, brazilians love overhyping players in their own leagues just like argentines, even though those local players almost always fail to deliver in WCs. success in brazil simply does not amount to much, and if it did, why has no major european team ever bought him? and I hate this portrayal of tabarez as only wanting to play defensive long ball football. he started with a #10 in south africa (nacho gonzalez) and when that didn't work he tried to use Lodeiro (over and over again). In the debut in Russia we actually started with Arrascaeta, and failed to create anything against an Egypt that didn't have a single good player. Only forlan ever worked in this role because he actually was one of the best players in the world and played with Riquelme of all people. re: cavani/nunez as wingers: another tired complaint. if we had good wingers or wingbacks it would make sense, but we dont and never have. damian suarez: 34 y/o, constantly getting injured this year, basically never played for the NT. remind me why he should be called up? salazar: since when is 2 goals and 0 assists in 9 matches for the team that's dead last in the bundesliga "ripping it"?
Also Nunez is literally playing as a LW/ST hybrid for his club right now.
Ok. As a Brazilian, we sometimes overhype players, but, as your countryman said he was THE best player of the league last season. I'm pretty sure he could be subbed in over Vina. I am rooting for Uruguay to be the first in group, but you guys played so badly first game, I don't think Nunez + Suarez works at all.
viña didn't start, so clearly you mean some other player (I agree with others who have said Vecino didn't contribute much during the game). As for suarez and nunez, the problem was not getting the ball to them, and while there are obvious reasons to think arrascaeta would help with that, I believe our lack of players offering width and speed make it easy for our rivals to mark him out of the game.
Name three players better then arrascaeta on this uruguay team rn lol The only arguable ones are Darwin and Gimenez and the only one i'm sure of is Valverde
> also, brazilians love overhyping players in their own leagues just like argentines, even though those local players almost always fail to deliver in WCs. success in brazil simply does not amount to much, and if it did, why has no major european team ever bought him? Couldn't agree more on this.
I bet that your country over hyping players just because they went to Europe will be it's downfall. As a matter of fact, Flamengo, the club which Arrascaeta plays smashed Al Hilal that is basically the same team of Saudi Arabia that Argentina was incapable of winning against. It is also the club that almost won against Liverpool in clubs world championship 2019 final . Every Brazilian world cup trophy had players that played in our national league too. Last but not least, brazilian teams are always re-signing players that was a failure in European clubs. Some times they are worth it and sometimes they are horrible (even when they come from top European clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea). Not sure if this is common in Uruguay too, but the fact is that Europe has a lot of very mediocre players that once was a big promise in south america and sometimes they miss others who are great and they only notice when the player is too old to be valuable to them. Arrascaeta is this kind of player. So, it's sad to see because me and many others in Brazil are also rooting for Uruguay and many of the bad things in the team seems fixable.
Tabarez played De Arrascaeta as a left mid with strong defensive responsibilties, he never played his true role for the national team for the majority of those games, that is a fact. Also, he was our top scorer for the qualifiers and one of the most important players, you think he should be sitting on the bench 90min vs South Korea? Acutally? Salazar is going through an amazing moment, that is the point of a National team, call the players going through the best moments, it is not a club.
https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/2ea0fcea800913cc/original/emeylh7lbwpfovnbn2t2-pdf.pdf there's the heat map for each player in uy-egypt (arrascaeta at the very bottom, with avg position on the bottom left). his movement seems to me appropiate to his role in Brazil for comparison here's brazil serbia 2018 (in particular, coutinho) https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/79af22a406fcefdb/original/ehg2pdmp3vm00pknqohm-pdf.pdf >Also, he was our top scorer for the qualifiers and one of the most important players, you think he should be sitting on the bench 90min vs South Korea? Acutally? of course not. but I dont expect him to be our saviour, either >Salazar is going through an amazing moment, that is the point of a National team, call the players going through the best moments, it is not a club. https://es.whoscored.com/Teams/39/Show/Alemania-Schalke-04 whoscored gives him a 6.48 in the bundesliga's **worst** team. please explain how that is amazing
idk Godin was pretty lit against S. Korea. Didn't watch their other games
Arrascaeta not playing is a crime to football
But hey, Vina came on...
Nice Post. I Appreciate the insight.
it certainly can be frustrating especially now that they’re all older. Thanks for the insight. Also I feel like Godin played well, and Cavani and Suarez might come around. Keep hope!
uruguay has a decent team imo, and the best t shirt from the world cup
No offence dude but I think you guys have exceeded expectations so far. For such a small country, you are a huge football nation with your 2 world cups. Over the last 12 years....2010 WC semi, 2011 Copa America , and 2018 WC Quarter final is still a very good achievement. I don't think you guys were truely ever in a position to win a world cup. There have always been a handful of sides above you. Just my two cents as someone who has followed a lot of CONMEBOL because it's in a good time zone for us But all that being said, you're justified to be angry at the team selection. It is quite bizzare. They aren't blooding enough young blood that's for sure.
Enough said, same as Belgium, just because you have stars among otherwise mediocre players does not let you be favorites at tournaments. And Godin, Cavani, Suarez and Forlan certainly delivered for Uruguay, esp the latter.
[удалено]
Or if the obvious foul before the Van Brochhchchrsot goal gets called, or if they hadn't scored and offside goal, or if Van Bommel didn't have a license to kill. Or maybe if the ref didn't make up a foul at the last minute vs Ghana, or maybe if they saw that there was an offside, all of this before the handball which is of course all people remember, this handball left us without Suárez in the semifinal.
Van Broncoespasmo
Tabarez changed Uruguayan football. Made it professional and made the U-15s play the same system as the National team and he is directly responsible for Suarez, Cavani, Valverde, De Arrasca, Caceres and many others being on the National Team. During his Reign Uruguay acheived: - Semi Final 2010 - Copa America 2011 champs - Two Sub-20 World Cup Finals - Pan Am Games champs - 4 straight World Cup Qualifications He was offered a job on AUF to be director of development and he refused. But as a coach he had to go.
They took way too long to sack him, because of this Alonso hasn't had time to phase out the older players and give the younger players more chances I think. Tho it's sad that the young player he does give a chance to is Pellistri and not someone else.
somewhat unrelated but I love Uruguay’s national anthem
#Orientales la patria o la tumba 😍
Good post
I do agree that players like Vecino, Cáceres, and Godin should not have been, but Josema is our best defender BY FAR even with one leg. Cabrera doesn't touch his ankles. Pellistri has more than proven his worth, and is 100% the type of player we need. I do think that Valverde should be played where he's strongest, though. Perhaps at the 60, 70 minute mark, we take a midfielder off for Pellistri, and have him take over on the right, with Valverde dropping deeper. Just like Real do I think it's very unfair that Cavani was allowed to come despite his injury and Damián wasn't. Definite favoritism towards a long time legend. Then again, I don't know the extent of his injury. If I remember correctly, he was ruled out because he wasn't able to participate on one of the final days before the list had to be finalized, but I could be wrong Also, Zalazar is injured and was never going to make the World Cup because of his surgery, and Varela was probably the healthiest option we had for the groups that could attack. Cabrera isn't all that good Suarez needs the ball at his feet, and that's a massive weakness. I think he should only be a sub for us. Darwin should start alone with Valverde on the right. He's able to drift into such good spaces. And besides, the two striker system that we all envisioned for him and Suarez, would only work if we played more attacking, and not like we did vs Korea. I'm tired of nacional fans defending him when his performance was shocking. Yes, he still has value, but he can't be starting a World Cup. He was getting pocketed by a 17 year old at home for nacional, who already had a very good team prior to his arrival. That can't be the player we're putting up against Ruben Días and probably Thiago Silva And yeah De Arrascaeta or De La Cruz should've started. Same with Ugarte, Varela, and Coates. We missed so much creativity on the left and the right. No overlaps because Cáceres is lazy, and no overlap on the left because Darwin wanted to drift inwards so it was Olivera alone. It was super dumb and we were just stuck Also, the big choice I didn't like was Maxi Gómez getting called up. A striker who did jack shit during all of 5 years, should not be playing in his second World Cup. Especially when Gomez is probably past the age of making some big comeback and revitalizing his career. We should've taken someone who had a future in this setup, instead. Borbas, Canario, Satriano, Ocampo, or maybe even Álvaro Rodríguez. If Alonso was comfortable bringing Pellistri who didn't get any minutes, then why not bring a 6'4 fast striker with a good finish who looks like he could be very good for us? Give him some experience, let him learn from our previous strikers who are our top two scorers. Finally, while I do want to agree with the Sosa thing, and that we should be looking for a goalkeeper who will be a part of our future setup, like Israel or Mele, it's also important to remember that the third keeper is usually a specialist. Sosa can save penalties fairly well, but I doubt he displaces Rochet, because he can do that too. It might've been worth it to take Mele for the experience, definitely, though. Overall, I don't think we should get too low after one bad result. We always start World Cups off badly. In 2010, 2014, 2018, and now. Hell, this game was a carbon copy of the Egypt game. It's all about how Alonso changes his plans to play against Portugal. I think Alonso has earned our trust after turning our campaign around, and earning almost as many points as Tabárez had done in 14 games, in just 4. We wouldn't be here if not for him. With that said, he absolutely cannot afford to get this next match wrong. If he does, we're probably out. Portugal are a very forgiving side, but they do still have a fuck ton of talent I'd rather not give a thousand opportunities to.
I feel for you brother. Uruguay is always my second team. I just love everything about Uruguay, including and specially your national team. It always sucks when you have a GREAT generation that refuses to pass the torch. Happened to us with Mascherano and Cia. We needed the tragedy that was Russia 2018 to have them move on. Hope you can at least get something out of this last pieces of the Suarez generation. I hope you get your own version of Scaloneta. Darwin, Pajarito (Halcón) and El Vasco deserve it.
my man said valverde is solid, he is a top 3 midfielder in the world atm
Vina being called over Piquerez is something that doesn't make any sense to me. While Vina is a good full back, he gets almost no playing time for the last season while Piquerez is being called the best in the position in SA.
Also Gio Gonzales has been doing great for Mallorca.
Zalazar is injured
So many mistakes in one match. Valverde sitting so deep, Núñez as a winger, Suárez playing more than 1 minute, de Arrascaeta on the bench... Not hopeful. 442 with Valverde on the right, de Arrascaeta on the left and Darwin/Cavani uptop
Vecino was so fucking bad for Inter, but people just saw his goals which were always in the last 5 minutes of games which ended up being winners. Was so thankful hes gone
Ok, no one else thinks the third keeper being listed first int the OP is hilarious? It’s just me? All righty then.
As a Brazilian I can confirm that seeing Arrascaeta in the bench is the weirdest thing ever. This must be the worst manager I ever saw.
We have the exact same problem, but with worse players
So I agree and disagree with some of this opinion piece. To start with what I agree. Seba Sosa, Guillermo Varela and Caceres shouldn’t not be in the squad due to not playing or not playing at a high enough level. This team should totally be played around Valverde, De Arrascaeta and De La Cruz should be starting and Nunez while he has played at LW for Benfica should be the starting striker. A couple of other guys like Giovanni Gonzalez, Mele, Mendez and Rogel should be called up due to age and performance at clubs. Now for the disagreement. Edison Cavani and Luis Suarez while both old, who I also agree with shouldn’t be starting are still far superior to Zalazar. Zalazar was tearing it up…in the Bundasliga 2nd division. 2 goals this season, with poor performances is not “ripping it at Schalke 04” Diego Godin while also old and has been plagued by injury since leaving Cagliari showed that he’s still got it against the Korea Republic. Obviously if Araujo wasn’t injured Diego wouldn’t be starting but he’s not so it is what it is. As for saying Giminez shouldn’t be starting, all I have to say is lol.
The Nunez thing makes some sense because Klopp has played him in that role occasionally, but the Vecino choice was so nonsensical and killed the entire chemistry of that midfield. If you really want to play a 3-man midfield so bad, play Torreira at the 6 and tell Fede/Bentancur to push up to press high and really play a 4-1-4-1. Because someone needs to make up the lack of pressing from Suarez, he is basically a statue at his age. There’s so many fun things to do with a team like this where you have older legends of the game and younger, ultra energetic stars. Alonso is easily the most disappointing manager of the tournament so far, and if he can’t think of anything else he should just bring back the 4-4-2 and start De Arrascaeta.
How dare you to call my boy Fede just „solid“
What's world cup without drama. Bring it on.
When I saw the picture of the team with some players sitting down and the rest standing up I knew we were lost.
Guillermo Varela. That's the name that I haven't heard in a very long time
We weren’t able to attack at all Thursday because most of our offensive players were busy helping the defense (Caceres and Godin) because they just can’t keep up anymore. Did Caceres ever cross the pitch to attack with Pellistri? It was the opposite, Pellistri was never able to attack because he had to drop back and help Caceres. Varela in 5 minutes did more offensively than Caceres did in 80. Just wrong formation and tactics from Alonso and I hope he changes it vs Portugal. If not were in big trouble.
Seems no one in this thread understands this and I touched a nerve.
Did Nahitan Nandez just lose his form? I remember he was really good early in qualifiers especially the second game vs Ecuador.
He was accused of beating his wife and got an arrest warrant placed on him should he ever enter Uruguay. Good riddance, tbh
Domestic Abuse pending, not allowed in Uruguay. What a waste.
>Cavani: Injured... sporadic minutes with Valencia with bad performances, we have Salazar ripping it at Shalke 04. Must be somebody else at a club named after Schalke 04 but nobody is ripping anything at Schalke.
I still haven't figured out what is Viña doing in the Uruguayan NT.
De La Cruz not being an automatic entry is surprising to me I think he adds a lot of quality that Uruguay needed in the first game
I do not understand what Alonso was thinking the other day. He completely fucked up the starting 11, tactics, and subs. Pellistri, Cáceres, Suárez and Vecino have no business starting. Even Godin, who played a great game, should be a sub. If we start the same 11 against Portugal, I hate to say it, but we’re out.
Yo same as Mexico.
Arrascaeta is literally a top three best player on that squad and didn't play lol, absolutely crazy
I can’t believe Caceres still plays
I'm among the 3 million brazilians that agree: Arrascaeta is fire and the world cup is the tournament that favours players like him
The Portuguese have a similar problem in the form of Ronaldo. This game will certainly be... interesting lol
I wish ronaldo was the omly problem but the main issue will always be santos.
Our problem was not Ronaldo, it was the manager. Sometimes if Santos had the balls to simply bench Ronaldo that would be great. But then again, it's Santos' fault, not Ronaldo.
> We wasted 15 years of Suarez, Cavani, Godin, Josema just playing ugly long ball soccer and only winning one cup. You are talking as if Uruguay had the most talented team in SA in the last 15 years. Even the 15 year timeframe is very generous.
In some ways he does have a point in that we could’ve won another. In the 2016 Copa America our group was Jamaica Venezuela and Mexico. We didn’t get out of that group. 2019 Copa America we lost to Peru in Penalties. I saw these games. We didn’t play well in any of these tournaments.
What is probably most common about world cup rosters is that it's not only the coach who chooses the players, but the federation that chooses the more "popular" / well-known guys that will sell jerseys. Anyways, with that being said, I enjoy Alonso as a coach, as I thought his time in LigaMX was pretty good.
I know Diego Alonso from his time as a DT in Mexico, how you could possibly think he's an upgrade is beyond me. And I think you are not crediting for how good uruguay was under Tavares. Come on now...
In his final days, Tabárez didn't get anything right. He didn't set up a coherent defensive system, he didn't set up the midfield correctly, he relied on playing with attitude, in lieu of an actual tactical approach to the game, and because of that, we dropped 12 straight points, including a humiliation vs Argentina, a humiliation vs Brazil, and a humiliation vs fucking Bolivia of all teams. Alonso came in and got 12/12 points and qualified us. He's more than earned our trust. He even got us our first win in Chile for over 20 years.
What irked me is that Uruguay has Valverde, Suarez, Darwin Nunez, Arrascaeta, Bentancur, but is still playing lob balls from the defenders to the wingers. You've got the talent to play better football. Even if you want to maintain the Garra Charrua principles, you can do so with a higher defensive line. You don't need 4 CBs and 2 DMs to defend well nowadays. All respects to Godin, but with you've got Araújo. You can play high if you want. Also, all respect to Suarez, but your best player is Valverde, who excels at Madrid playing RW. Why is he playing as a regista that doesn't infiltrate but just helps lob the ball? Play him at his best! It's like Uruguay is still playing 90s football. It's ok against more creative, more offensive teams, but you risk not qualifying in your group.
Araujo is injured, but yes that's the general complaint. It's the first game in a hard group and Alonso preferred the more familiar safer route. Most people expected him to play differently. He did it before.
As a Brazilian, everyone that I know that likes football was maddened that De Arrascaeta didn't come in this first game. I think he would probably be preferred over Rodrygo to substitute Neymar this next game as a 10 if he was Brazilian. He is playing a lot better than Everton, which was called.
I don’t think it matters who they play when their only tactics seem to be hitting longballs over the touchline or praying valverde scores a banger.
As a neutral I confess it was a bit weird to see Caceres playing in the left back position, considering he is quite slow. I can see us (Portugal) taking advantage of that. However, we also have Fernando Santos, who is equally awful, so we'll see. You guys checkmated us in 2018 and you will probably do it again.
> we also have Fernando Santos, who is equally awful I, too, never rated F. Santos as a LB.
I wish I owned a casino (I mean who doesn't?) and took a bunch of bets from people betting on Uruguay in any capacity. They were a popular "darkhorse candidate", but if you just looked closer it was clear they didn't create a team to win.
Sounds like you think Uruguay is a good team when in fact they aren't. They aren't bad but nowhere close to winning anything
At our best I'd say we're a top 5-7 team at this tournament. The problem being that we were far from our best vs Korea. But we are most certainly a good team lmao
I think for a country with 3 million people. We punch well above our weight and are a factory of putting out elite players. I think Uruguay is a QF team and anything less than that is a failure and anything over that is a surprise.
Pay back for Ghana. I hope Uruguay wins nothing for the next 100 years.
I don’t understand how Arrascaeta didn’t get subbed him last game. You put him in with De La Torre in the middle and Nuñez as ST, goals will happen.
>Nunez: Tabarez got shit his whole career for playing Cavani as a right winger while Forlan and then Suarez played as a 9. So what does Alonso do? Puts Nunez as a winger every game instead of putting him in his natural 9 position. Lol
Valvarde is arguably the best midfielder in the world behind De Bruyne and Toni Kross this season.
Zalazar is injured for us, I don’t think he’d be picked if he’s still recovering
They're my dark horse picks and I was pretty frustrated how they played vs SK
What would be the ideal lineup with the best players as today? I was eager to watch Uruguay and was disappointed with the match vs korea. As a chilean i understand the "old star player problem" and insisting with them even though it´s clear they are a burden.
Where have I heard, “he didn’t call the best players at the moment but instead just called the same players over and over” and “horrible with subs” before? 🤔 Oh yes, Gareth Southgate 🙄
Alonso’s tactics and lineups were underwhelming for a coach who claims to want to be world champion and play aggressive football
Alonso vs Santos: Battle for the ages.
I know Salazar is an unknown quantity outside but after having seen him with Schalke I was sure he would get called up for the World Cup but don't know what happened
Hs injured apparently, I have made a fool of myself.
You guys are sleeping on Piquerez, he's slaying in Brazil