By Louis Smith.
Uruguay were the only South American team not to make it out of the group stage, in what was a very disappointing campaign from La Celeste. They had a decent squad and a favourable draw. However, the local media heading into the tournament were talking about the breakdown in internal cohesion, and those concerns were evident straight away against Saudi Arabia, who controlled much of the first half and deservedly took the lead through Abdulelah Al-Amri just before half-time.
Despite all the criticism of coach Marcelo Bielsa, it was his changes at half-time, taking off Matias Viña and Darwin Núñez, and bringing on Juan Sanabria and Agustín Canobbio, that changed the balance of the second half. Uruguay pretty much dominated after the break and were unlucky not to win the game. They found an equaliser through Maximiliano Araújo, who was definitely one of the bright sparks for La Celeste throughout the tournament.
However, they just didn't kick on from that performance.
Against Cape Verde in the second match, they were well off the mark. Kevin Pina opened the scoring for Cape Verde before Uruguay turned the game around through Maximiliano Araújo and Canobbio. However, their lead was cancelled out in the second half as Helio Varela equalised for Cape Verde, earning what was probably a deserved point.
Uruguay were the only South American team not to make it out of the group stage, in what was a very disappointing campaign from La Celeste. They had a decent squad and a favourable draw. However, the local media heading into the tournament were talking about the breakdown in internal cohesion, and those concerns were evident straight away against Saudi Arabia, who controlled much of the first half and deservedly took the lead through Abdulelah Al-Amri just before half-time.
Despite all the criticism of coach Marcelo Bielsa, it was his changes at half-time, taking off Matias Viña and Darwin Núñez, and bringing on Juan Sanabria and Agustín Canobbio, that changed the balance of the second half. Uruguay pretty much dominated after the break and were unlucky not to win the game. They found an equaliser through Maximiliano Araújo, who was definitely one of the bright sparks for La Celeste throughout the tournament.
However, they just didn't kick on from that performance.
Against Cape Verde in the second match, they were well off the mark. Kevin Pina opened the scoring for Cape Verde before Uruguay turned the game around through Maximiliano Araújo and Canobbio. However, their lead was cancelled out in the second half as Helio Varela equalised for Cape Verde, earning what was probably a deserved point.
4 months ago
