You know sometimes being deprived of one thing is actually good, take La Liga for example, here in the United States if you want to watch La Liga on television, you can only do so if your cable provider carries Be-In Sport… so my cable provider doesn’t carry that channel, so naturally I’m missing out on Messi, Ronaldo, and all that good shit. But it’s a win-win really, see now Gol-TV, the channel that used to carry La Liga in the States is forced to show other programming; so we’re talking Bundesliga, Brasileirão and something called Uruguay’s Primera. So now I get to see with my own eyes how horrible Uruguay’s domestic league continues to be.
So I was watching La Copa Bimbo, a friendly tournament which encompasses the Clásico as well — Now I should preface this by saying that before I watched the actual game I downed an entire plate of General Tso’s Chicken. So by the time I got to the game I was entering a carb induced tangy chicken coma. So I didn’t mind so much that El Centenario’s pitch was a cow-patch or that for most of the match, nothing much was really going on, not that I expected much action since it is a summer Clásico, and most of the time, the players arrive slightly out of form.
They should rename Uruguay's Primera after this Asian delicacy... guaranteed to knock you out!
So Zalayeta scores in the 67th minute, Peñarol 1-0 Nacional and I’m thinking, holy shit what an amazing goal! — Zalayeta continues to be one of those players I’ll always appreciate and isn’t it about time we forgive him for missing that penalty against Australia in 2005? — But anyway the plate of General Tso’s chicken was working its magic, shortly after Zalayeta scored it was lights out for Yorugua.
So I was surprised to wake up today to the news that there was more to this game, that a fracus had ensued, that Jorge Bava, Nacional’s starting goalkeeper who looks like he had been painted by El Greco, had indeed punched out some security guard and was hauled off to the slammer where his future will be determined by a judge or something like that. Meanwhile there are reports that the next Clásico may be suspended due to these very incidents which took place at the end of last night’s match and which may cost Bava his liberty.
While Bava may have earned Bolso sainthood, it really does nothing for Uruguay’s domestic football.
The punch actually highlights what’s wrong with Uruguay’s football, sometimes it seems like the AUF & Tenfield would rather sell you pyrotechnics than actual football. For the neutral or casual observer, there wasn’t much to snack on, in fact there was more on my plate of General Tso’s chicken than there was in last night’s match.
Uruguay’s domestic football hasn’t improved since the national team’s improved international standing the last couple of years. This particular Clásico highlights this notion, bottled up frustrations boiling over and the potential for violence seems to be what gets prioritized in Uruguay’s football. For a country that has given world football so much, it’s odd that this now seems to be the norm. That all we can really hope to see when we watch a Primera match is that maybe a punch is thrown, some NHL violence spills out and that this is what we can talk about the next day… not the quality of the football played. It’s enough to make you not want to watch any of this, but in my case, no Liga means I have to watch this… FUCK!
On a different subject, I’m a bit confused about this but supposedly if Uruguay’s Under-20 Squad loses this Friday by more than 2 goals to Venezuela, they would be eliminated from the South American Under-20 tournament. And if Uruguay loses by one goal, they’re in? WTF? Who comes up with these defeatist scenarios?… all I know Uruguay plays this Friday. Lets hope the kids continue on track and don’t order any Chinese food before the match.
Yorugua
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Yorugua
FourThreeThree
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NicoGF
You should eat more vegetables, didn’t your mother tell you that?
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There was some broccoli on my plate
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Yorugua!
Don’t eat chicken,unless he has spent his short life running in the courtyard.Not those factory ones.
As for los pibes,only three of them are really outstanding,but others are so under their quality that they have got none to play with.
Well these talented are Diego Laxalt,who knows everything with the ball,dribbles and passes brilliantly,and in my opinion is long awaited enganche,for Maestro La Celeste team.He could be adopted immediately.Than Rolan,who plays also midfield,and forward,and Nicolas Diente Lopez,who is at the moment top scorer of the championship with 4 goals.To compare with 2011,the best Uruguayan goalgetter Luna scored through all the championship 3 goals.
I hope Uruguay will continue with the same fertility,but damned,will also do some work in defense.Otherwise we could say by by to the first and second place and Olympics in Brazil 2016.
Brazil and Argentina didnt pass the group,but Peru,Colombia,Chile,Paraguay,Ecuador are much,much stronger than in 2011.Uruguay would have an easier task with Argentina and Brazil in a hexagon group.Already accustomed to draw,Uruguayan team will not go so far in the final competition.It is not the knock-out system where you could pass to the final like Paraguay in Copa America,by the penalty lottery.And also Paraguay had Villar,who saved them,and Uruguay has a big hole on its goal,in the form of both keepers.
So I think Verzeri didn’t prepare properly the team,in spite of taking his time to do so.He has shown himself again as incapable coach.I mean what players he needs to have in order to make one decent team that he couldn’t spoil?
Maybe it is a time for him to find himself a job in his true profession.
Defense is really a swiss cheese.And Chile or Colombia could riddle it all through.
I am afraid.Pity for such a good attacking potentiality,to be followed by such a poor defense.
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M55 –––
All this talk of Chickens and swiss cheese is making me hungry
But regarding your comment… Defense is very important but it’s almost impossible nowadays to form a team that can play both defense and offense,and do so exceptionally well. Uruguay teams are generally defensively sound, offense or lack of offense is where Uruguay usually struggles, Uruguay teams are built to sit back and wait out the opponent, not go looking for trouble in the opponent’s area.
I’m not saying this squad is perfect, and I’m not in love with everything I see, but I think a Uruguay team that’s looking for the goalpost and not running away from it should be admired to a certain extent.
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I agree with you.But if you look at the evidence,pure facts,than Uruguay is at present, more known in the world for its strikers than for its defenders.Uruguay exports strikers on a large scale;Cavani,Suarez,Forlan,Loco Abreu,Seba Fernandez,Castro(who yesterday scored a double in Real Sociedad victory over Barcelona),Stuani,Abel Hernandez,Texeira,Santiago Silva,Mora,Regueiro,Salgueiro,Granoche,Fornaroli,Moro Garcia,Nico Lopez,Alfaro,Melazzi,Brugman,Ifran,Matias Britos,Cauteruccio,Chevanton,.If we add attacking midfielders like Ramirez,Lodeiro,Nacho Gonzales,Carlos Sanchez,Jorge Martinez,Alvaro Gonzales,Urretaviscaya,Giacomazzi.Bogliaccino,Ceppelini,Mauricio Perreira,Aguiar,Japo Rodriguez,it comes out that Uruguay,traditionally defensive team, is selling its attackers on a much larger scale than defenders.
Uruguay is too short in defenders.After Lugano’s retirement who’s gona marshall the defense.Caceres and Godin are top quality players but none of them could be the leader of defense,and Coates and Polenta are big disappointments of Celeste future.Maybe Rolin or Miguel Britos or Guillermo Rodriguez,or MacEachen could add to some quality.but its is obvious with Lugano,a long tradition of authority of central defenders in Uruguay is at the end.Coates, physically,looks like Sorondo but its not a mere shadow of that classy player.
Well isn’t it a bit frustrating when you have so good attackers who do tremendous work,bring a lot of joy and boost,only to get all turned into ashes by dilettantish defense?
I will not tantalize you anymore with the food comparation.We call such kind of defense a swiss cheese,because it’s full of holes.
I am sorry if I have spoiled the peace of your digestive system.
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LOL…
Its all good. I’m thinking of a chicken from one thru ten, can you tell me which chicken I’m thinking of? Just kidding.
Yeah, its true, Uruguay nowadays is mostly known for strikers… not exactly sure outside of Cavani and Suarez whether the rest (youth players) or people like Forlan and Abreu, are the kind of strikers Big Clubs want to sign? My thinking is, Suarez and Cavani are special players… young, able to switch flanks easily, armed with a predator’s instincts… the old kind of Uruguay striker can still be effective (Abreu/Forlan) but can be considered analog players to the new digital era players (Suarez & Cavani).
Even if Abreu were 10 years younger, he’s very limited in terms of talent potential to someone like Cavani. Abreu is more the throwback bigman striker… but players like that outside of Uruguay are very easy to find.
Forlan is nearing his end… his Atletico Madrid/Inter exits don’t make him an attractive buy, I still find it sad all he could get was that Brazilian club, I was pretty sure he’d end up in a lower tier Spanish club…
Young Players are a crapshoot. We’ll have to wait a couple of years to know if Roma can exploit Nico Lopez to the point where El Diente can develop into a superstar on the same level as Suarez and Cavani… who knows if it happens. Then there are a lot of interesting strikers but no one who can play in the same level as Suarez and Cavani.
That’s my only point of disagreement, that you really can’t compare the rest of Uruguay’s strikers to Suarez and Cavani.. those two are special.
I agree with you on Uruguay’s defense, or lack of quality defenders… While I think you have a host of possible replacements for Godin (Rolin, Coates, Polenta)… replacing Lugano will be hard. Not too many Sweeper/Destroyers left in Uruguay to choose from, unless you want to cap Macaluso from the Manyas, who is the same age as Lugano.
Having watched the Uruguay league for most of last season, not really impressed by anybody else.
The one area where Uruguay is safe is at fullbacks, lots of quality there.
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