Uruguay
Uruguay - Group D (Costa Rica, England, Italy)
The first World Cup host, the first FIFA World Champion - winning all the matches in the inaugural tourney, winner of the only previous World Cup hosted in Brazil and winner of most international titles, the small nation of Uruguay is a force to reckon in the world footballing stage even before the inception of World Cup
Profile - Resurgence?
After finishing fourth in the 1970 tourney, Uruguay faced a long slump often failing to qualify. Since the last decade or so, the team's fortunes have looked brighter owing to emergence of some world class players plying their trade in some of the best clubs all over the world
Owing to their strength up front, Uruguay are most dangerous at set pieces, especially the free kicks. Their defense looks solid enough except when they let opponents inside the box
Confederation: CONMEBOL (South America)
Coach: Oscar Tabarez (URU)
FIFA Ranking: 6 (8-May-2014)
Nickname: La Celeste (The Sky Blue One)
Key Players: Saurez, Cavani, Forlan
Legends: Francescoli, Scarone, Recoba
World Champions: 1930, 1950
History - The First Champs
Uruguay won the first four major world titles they have participated in, the 1924 and 1928 Olympic golds and then 1930 and 1950 World Cups. FIFA treats the two golds as World Championships too after assuming responsibility of the football games organized at world level. However, their success was cut short after the 1950 tourney and they could never reached the final again, they have played the semifinals three times since
Uruguay also won four Copa America titles (including the current 2011 Championship) and were holders of now-redundant South American Championship a record eleven times. They also won the 1983 Pan American Games putting their total medal tally to a world record 20 titles
Qualification - Roadblock
After a comparatively successful 2010 campaign, where they finished fourth, Uruguay was expected to storm into 2014 finals with relative ease. After starting the qualifiers moderately well, Uruguay faced a major stumble when they lost four and drew two out of six consecutive matches. They recovered well enough to secure a playoff spot by finishing fifth in CONMEBOL qualifiers
They won the mismatched playoff against Jordan easily to finally confirm their World Cup entry
Prospects - Front Heavy
Uruguay would hope to outscore their opponents in order to qualify from their Group D, widely regarded as the "Group of Death" which includes former winners England and Italy. They have a prospect of facing Spain or Brazil as early as the round of 16 if they qualify
Squad
Oscar Tabarez announced his final roster for the World Cup on May 31
Goalkeepers:
Fernando Muslera (Galatasaray), Martin Silva (Vasco da Gama), Rodrigo Munoz (Libertad)
Defenders:
Maximiliano Pereira (Benfica), Diego Lugano (West Bromwich Albion), Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid), Jose Maria Gimenez (Atletico Madrid), Sebastian Coates (Nacional), Martin Caceres (Juventus), Jorge Fucile (Porto)
Midfielders:
Alvaro Gonzalez (Lazio), Alvaro Pereira (Sao Paulo), Walter Gargano (Parma), Egidio Arevalo Rios (Morelia), Diego Perez (Bologna), Cristian Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid), Gaston Ramirez (Southampton), Nicolas Lodeiro (Botafogo)
Forwards:
Luis Suarez (Liverpool), Edinson Cavani (Paris St Germain), Abel Hernandez (Palermo), Diego Forlan (Cerezo Osaka), Christian Stuani (Espanyol)
May 12: Uruguay head coach Oscar Teberez announced a 25-man provisional squad, along with three reserves
May 12: Uruguay head coach Oscar Teberez announced a 25-man provisional squad, along with three reserves
Fixtures
Uruguay vs Costa Rica on June 14 at Fortaleza
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