MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
URUGUAY finally qualified to the WORLD CUP, I’m not going to say “I told you so” because 20 minutes into the match I started getting nervous… Uruguay was playing “Pelotazo ball” as usual & Costa Rica looked better than they did in San Jose. Rene Simoes was doing his best Julio Ribas impersonation all night long, receiving tactical information via his headset from an assistant in the stands. Simoes clearly was an influence in this match. While Tabarez stayed true to form, still unable to win two consecutive games regardless of the opponent. Still the Old Man got the job done but… there’s a lot of work to be done.
Still we should celebrate this qualification, things got a little dicey in June & September, all was almost lost but Uruguay picked its trampled ego from the floor and was able to qualify to the best tournament in the planet. Uruguay did not play a perfect match, but hey what are we complaining about? Didn’t Ecuador celebrate a qualification years ago with a draw as well? A win would have been better but impossible tonight not with the usual lapses in defense. Meanwhile Lodeiro showed shades of “Maradona ’86″ ––– I would’ve preferred if Japo had played alongside him to relieve some of the pressure but we really can’t second-guess the starting eleven when the job got done. El Maestro was guess-right in all his substitutions especially the one that finally removed the misfiring Suarez from the pitch. Scotti was brilliant before he was subbed out (no clue why?) and Muslera’s save (you know which one I’m talking about) was phenomenal until Centeno was able to score on him. Maybe it was fitting that Perez, Scotti, Godin & Abreu played tonight, considering they were there from the start, from before the Qualifiers, they were part of the Northern Ireland match that signified the start of the new Tabarez era — despite the gut-wrenching losses to Argentina & Brazil, Tabarez figured out how to get Uruguay to a World Cup.
EL LOCO WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD
El Loco Abreu, what can I say… que grande! Just when you thought it was OK to bash him (Lima Fan Fallout and all) the guy turns around and redeems himself with a spectacular text book header that should be tattooed in your brain by now. Despite my reservations, Abreu may have earned a spot on the World Cup Squad… maybe?
WINNERS CIRCLE
France got in and so did Uruguay while Portugal who hasn’t won anything also managed to squeak by in… So everyone is happy right? Uruguay, Italy, Brazil, Germany, France, England & Argentina are all in. While Uruguay & France qualified almost dead last, none of the former champions except maybe Brazil is a favorite to win it. Spain is already being touted as the favorite to win it all (although I’ll have to see it to believe it) and La Liga conspiracies (that were preventing Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo from going to South Africa) evaporated . So where is Uruguay in all of this do we actually have a shot? I gotta laugh because lets be honest if you saw tonight’s game you don’t need me to answer it but I will… no, but anything is possible. Clearly Tabarez has to figure out how to win 2 straight games in official competitions and he’ll need that if he wants Uruguay to be a protagonist in 2010, but a lot depends on the group Uruguay is eventually saddled in. Come December we’ll know what group Uruguay will be in and who the opponents will be. For the time being though qualifying to the mother of all tournaments is enough (at least for this year).
Nico: many thanks. Your comments are very kind! Danubiano: Yorugua is right. Tabarez is certainly no saviour, and Uruguay could probably only make a really big impact under a world class, foreign coach. England, Ireland and Switzerland have all concluded this; so of course have Chile.
But then we come back to the poverty of the AUF, and undeniable difficulties of the job. It’s an almost intractable problem, and one which, for example, Scotland are also currently facing. In that context, Tabarez has done perfectly OK: and as much as I love the boldness of Carrasco, you only have to look at what happened this week to realise that neither the fans nor media would tolerate any such setbacks with the national team. That in turn creates this groundhog day scenario in which Uruguay always have to struggle desperately, and get very excited by what are really minor triumphs.
Tabarez is neither as defensive as Fossati, nor anywhere near as offensive as Carrasco. He steers a middle course, is diplomatic, and can handle the AUF. It’s not what we’d all want it to be ideally; but it is what it is. What intrigues me is whether he’s learned from what happened in 1990 – the away game in Chile suggested he hasn’t, because it bore certain resemblances to Belgium in Italy if you ask me, and in the same scenario next summer, an accomplished side could punish us in precisely the same way.
If Uruguay reach the last 16, I’ll be happy. If we don’t, I’ll be disappointed – but it’s almost impossible to expect anything more, sadly. Incidentally guys, is it possible to expect anything more of the server on this blog? It’s a nightmare, and I’ve not been able to access it for the last 24 hours!
BigFeller (& Everybody)—I apologize for the technical difficulties, sadly its a situation thats beyond our control but it will be remedied, our Site Administrator is working hard to resolve the issue.
BTW: Keep checking in, we will be uploading a brand new WALLPAPER, that’s an LCB Exclusive and which celebrates Uruguay’s qualification to South Africa. And no its not a picture of Nacho