From 2006 until the present, only 3 men have managed Uruguay’s national team. If you didn’t know El Maestro Tabarez is one of those names, where you been for the past six years? The other two, are not so well known, maybe because when they managed Uruguay’s NT, they did so on a caretaker basis. In fact the other two names only managed one game a piece. Gustavo Ferrin managed Uruguay in March of 2006, in a friendly with England and Juan Verzeri managed the other game, right after the 2010 World Cup in a friendly against Angola.
In another universe, Verzeri would’ve been coaching against Ferrin’s Under-20 Peru but Ferrin was fired shortly after being named Peru’s Under-20 Manager in 2011. Verzeri coached his only NT match against Angola, the team Ferrin is presently coaching in the Africa Nations Cup.
Ferrin now Angola's NT manager.
Another curiosity that exists between the two former caretakers is that they both handed Nacho Gonzalez a cap, and each did so for only a minute. Ferrin capped Gonzalez in 2006 in the 90th minute of Uruguay vs England while Verzeri capped Nacho Gonzalez also in the 90th minute against Angola, and unless El Maestro recaps Nacho, both caretaker managers book-ended Nacho Gonzalez’s playing career with a strangely similar start and finish.
Beyond Nacho and Twilight Zone-like coincidences. Both managers coached Uruguay’s Under-20 side at one point in their coaching career, something Verzeri is still doing today. And it’s this angle I want to touch on, because in a way, both have affected the current NT by their actions, more so than the average caretaker coach should be held accountable for. In Ferrin’s case, the Cavani controversy is 50% his doing. I’ll explain why… If no one had seen Cavani play in the 2007 Under-20 South American tournament, no one would’ve minded too much that Cavani has been the formation abnormality in El Maestro’s starting eleven for most of his senior side playing career… but the thing is most of us do remember Cavani in that 2007 Under-20 side and most of us are convinced as was Ferrin, that Cavani can play as the centre-forward to build upon.
Tabarez opted for Suarez as his go-to guy to build upon, and fast-tracked him to the senior side shortly after playing in the 2007 Under-20 World Cup by incorporating him into the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers in late 2007. Cavani’s arrival on the other hand was delayed for about a year on the senior side.
Ferrin’s other major contribution was “discovering” Uruguay’s centre-back duo: Diego Lugano and Diego Godin, who were Ferrin’s starting centre-back duo when Uruguay faced England. Incredibly, it took Tabarez a full eight months to come to the same conclusion, that Lugano works best with Godin and vice versa. This partnership has survived to this day, and it remains unknown who if any could one day replace either player.
Juan Verzeri, Uruguay's current Under-20 Manager.
Verzeri on the other hand was responsible for Uruguay’s underwhelming 2011 Under-20 World Cup, blame was squarely placed on his shoulders for Uruguay’s disappointing performance… a subsequent bronze medal performance in the 2011 Pan-american Games was a redemption of sorts, as Uruguay with a combined outfit which featured some Under-20 players from the 2009 squad (such as Tabare Viudez) along with some domestic league players put forth an honest effort considering the downsized expectations that squad took to Mexico.
But returning to my main point, where both coaches have their fingerprints all over this current senior squad is failing to bring up players who should have maybe been a part of this squad already.
In Ferrin’s case you have the example of Enzo Scorza, the diminutive playmaker who despite being a Christian evangelical much like Cavani was considered a “rebellious” poison pill, played only one game in the 2007 South American Under-20 tournament and never made it to the 2007 Under-20 World Cup roster. His career has stagnated, clashes with the Casal Group means he’s persona non grata in Uruguay’s domestic league, he is currently continuing his playing career in Peru.
The one name on Verzeri’s squad which should have somehow found his way on the senior side by now is Diego Polenta, for whatever the reason, Tabarez has ignored Polenta’s talents… maybe Polenta is a scapegoat for Uruguay’s underwhelming 2011 Under-20 World Cup? In any case, even though Tabarez took the talented centreback — who Italy tried to poach from Uruguay last year — to London last year, curiously, El Maestro did not play him in any match and has not considered too much of Polenta despite Lugano’s injury/lack of form woes in 2012. One has to conclude that Verzeri shares some of the blame in Polenta’s non-NT career, right?
Diego Polenta: "If not now, when?"
Of course, the blame for players failing to get a spot on the NT ultimately falls on the player’s lap, but the question that arises is just how much is the Under-20 coach responsible for missing pieces on the Senior Side set-up.
Many players are hit & miss proposals, a NT coach is responsible for deciphering who is ready and who isn’t, and it’s in this theater space where Tabarez has prospered. When Diego Aguirre was Uruguay’s Under-20 manager, Nico Lodeiro was promoted to the senior side and thrust into the role of savior when Uruguay faced Costa Rica in the intercontinental playoffs. While Lodeiro looked interesting playing for Nacional in 2009, from 2010 thru 2011, his elevation to the senior side remained questionable at best. Lodeiro’s second best game since joining the senior side came against Poland, for a long time, including the Olympics, Lodeiro would turn out so-so performances followed by regressive spells, so even though he played exceptionally well in the Poland Friendly, will he revert to his old question mark self?
So this leads us to our second question, how important is a youth setup to the senior side?
The youth system revealed two stellar talents in Cavani and Suarez and then Caceres but also retarded “can’t miss” phenoms like Scorza and Polenta. Gaston Ramirez is another example, although part of the 2009 side, and despite the tutelage of Raul Moller and then Victor Pua, it was Ramirez’s move to the Serie-A, which made Tabarez take notice.
Which makes me wonder, is Uruguay’s Under-20 system working at all?
While a caretaker has no real responsibility in deciding the outcome of a team in the long-haul mainly because his responsibility is limited to months, days, a filler for when the real boss is hired or takes over. A proper youth system, when it’s working right can turn out dividends for the senior side. Team objectives of course play an important role but if hiring someone like Tabarez made a world of difference in early 2006, hiring the right manager for the youth sides is just as important.
Sooner or later, the players Tabarez has been employing since 2006 will no longer be effective. Having adequate replacements in place would be the best of all possible worlds, but Tabarez has gone away from promoting “can’t miss” youth side players to the senior side, his last promotion Abel Hernandez has been quietly ignored since Verzeri himself promoted La Joya to the senior side in 2010.
This being 2013, If Uruguay fails to qualify for the 2014 World Cup, can’t turn it around, it’ll be the end of Tabarez as Uruguay’s NT manager. Regardless of whether Tabarez reverses Uruguay’s fortunes or not, Uruguay’s youth system besides qualifying to major tournaments should also identify potential senior side players long before the club sides spot them.
While results argue that Uruguay’s youth setup is fine, given the qualifications to countless youth World Cups and Olympics included, where Uruguay failed in 2012 was in finding the suitable replacement parts for the woes that plague the senior side, if those replacements can’t be found in professional leagues, a proper youth setup might have offered a potential solution long ago. Since Aguirre left, there hasn’t been too many promotions of which to speak of other than Hernandez who has had in-disciplinary issues at Palermo and may have entered El Maestro’s shit-list because of this.
If Aguirregaray represents the last youth player worthy of a promotion, then something is definitely wrong with Uruguay’s youth system.
Whatever ends up occurring with Uruguay’s senior side, i.e. qualification to the 2014 World Cup or failing to do so, the next NT manager whether it’s Tabarez or someone new should establish a line of communication with the youth system managers. If Suarez & Cavani are Uruguay’s last interesting youth player finds, then how to find the next Suarez and Cavani should take center stage in the NT, it starts first with identifying needs on the senior side and then finding the right youth team manager who can somehow search for potential solutions.
Yorugua
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Uruguay U-20,impotent against Colombia.Colombians look as if in higher boxing category.These guys are on steroids or so?
They also do pelotassing.Its nothing bad in pelotassing.Only their pelotassing is damn precise,and dangerous.
Verzeri has bought into their trap.They have left dominance to Uruguay,knownig that against their defense La Celeste has a poor chance.They are too strong for us.These guys dont look as U-20,but as U-30 team.
Pity that we dont have some strikers from a distance like Luna was last Sudamericano.
Uruguay has got a bad karma with Colombia.Pity!
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Colombia’s goalkeeper is really good, we should have scored by now!
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Uruguay has to change its tactics and approach against Colombia.They will always win us,wether the A team,or U-20 team,or Penarol in Montevideo.They have become an Uruguayocid team for us.Because they are physically stronger,they play better quality league,their style is counterattacking,but they are more precise and have a less wasted balls,they are faster,they more tackles the ball possessing opposite players,they are more agressive in defense,and more pressing.And they have a more desire to win.
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Yes but…
One of the wrinkles in all of this is that sometimes, the nerves get the better of the players on the pitch, tactics sometimes go out the window. This is something you have to take into account. Many of Uruguay’s shots on goal (at least in the 2nd half) were weak efforts… add a solid Colombian defense + stellar goalkeeping, wasn’t much this squad could have done.
Again only saw the 2nd half, but IMO Colombian defense was just too strong, very alert when they had to be.
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If we don’t do something seriously with the style of play we are going to lose against Chile and Ecuador.And maybe Paraguay too.This team is feeble.They are not enough physically strong,they are too slow in ball passing,and always get intercepted.They are too weak on one on one play.They dont disclose themselves properly,and have a shaky and hollow defense.
All those poorer,and not so rich in history country,have a strong ambition to beat Uruguay,after doing the same with Brazil and Argentina.
But Uruguay plays bloodless,without a strong ambition,as if we are satisified with our history and need not to repeat it,or to make similar one.
We let ourselves being tackled,pressed,marked,but when the opposite sides have got a ball,we dont do the same with them.They just walk across the pitch almost undisturbed with the ball,and run in creating lethal chances.
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Maybe, not disputing what you’re saying.
At this stage however, the aim is not to play “balls out” ––– goal difference is crucial, qualifying to the Under-20 World Cup becomes paramount and is forefront in the team’s list of objectives.
regarding passing, I’m not going to say they pass the ball well, not going to say they suck at it either… will say, that generally speaking, Uruguay’s passing has always needed work (at every level).
Even when you say you want someone like Luna, yeah sure, that’s all good but those kind of outside the box strikers also leads to a lot of hair pulling pelotazos!
What I saw in the second half, was Rolan drifting all the way back to retrieve the ball, that’s a lot of energy spent shoring back ––– you need him leading the attack, play him too deep and he loses his effectiveness. Again we go back to this idea that Uruguay should maybe try to go away from the defensive double pivot, look for defensive midfielders who can pass, not defensive midfielders who can help the centrebacks. Cristoforo lost possession very easily towards the end, this is what Uruguay needs to work on, ball retention, a little bit more vision from the defensive midfielders… or at least that’s what I think.
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i agree with everything yorugua said in his last comment, everything. uruguay need that at any level, even more the serior squad i guess. many many teams learnt to pass the ball and have more ball possession, why we cant is beyond my know-how. “la pelota no quema, muchachos”.
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In England they are already saying it was Suarez disguised as Hazard..lol
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I can’t believe people are actually trying to defend Hazard.You shouldn’t ever kick a ballboy, even if they’re wasting time.
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Happy birthday to Luis Suarez!
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HAPPY LUIS THANK YOU FOR ALL THE GOOD TIMES FOR URUGUAY AND LIVERPOOL!
i still think his best moment in a celeste shirt was againest ghana!
best goal againest, korea in 2010
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*BIRTHDAY
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I join congratulations to Pistolero.Cumple anos,Luis!
Besides,I agree with Yorugua,But I also have to point out that it is not pelotassing in itself bad,but bad pelotassing.We see that Columbia has done mostly by pelotassing from one flank to the other.Uruguay has won Peru mostly by long passes.Poland has reached 3rd place on WC 1974.mainly by pelotassing.They have beaten this way Italy,Argentina,Brazil,Yugoslavia.What is imprtant that you learn to do it precisely,and learn to run in on this.Uruguay is doing pelotassing,at random,blindly,hoping maybe it will hit the jackpot.Such an approach mostly sucks.In short passings they are often too short,or passing to a player who is marked and opposite defender easily inpercepts.My opinion is that Uruguayan players dont mind to lose the ball easily,they always count that somtimes they will have a good luck,or the opposite player will make mistake.It is a hazardous attitude,and now they are punished for it.It could happen,like with U15 team,last year.This team was good,till the first match lost.Than it has lost all others successively.Because it was frustrated and figured out.
They need to pass quicker,when you have such defense like Columbian,and also up and down,to and fro, in order to stretch their defense,scatter them more, and make some empty space to pass.Verzeri tactics was useless.He didnt prepare its team for such play like Columban.Columbia knew that the easiest way to win Uruguay was,to play it Uruguay’s way.
Now I am going to watch Defensor-Olimpia.
Defensor is an example of successful team,based mostly on its juvenile academy(shows that producing talented young players in Uruguayan league is possible),not on buying old players like Penarol and Nacional.Thats why half of the team is in NT U20,and I am afraid it will now harm the club,kicking it out of Libertadores.
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Its OK man… you don’t have to agree with me, even I don’t agree with me on everything!
With regards to passing quicker — that’s where I think Uruguay gets in trouble most of the time. Even on the senior side, when Uruguay passes, it feels rushed… and sometimes the players have a hard time controlling the ball.It suits players like Forlan and Suarez who don’t need a perfect pass to get out and running but the rest, players like Cavani & Ramirez require precise passing.
I’ve brought this up last year, but I think Uruguay’s so-so passing is linked to the state of the football pitches. The bad state of many Uruguay football pitches forces players to employ a kick and rush approach, few teams play passing football, of the top of my head, only Defensor, Nacional & when the mood strikes them Penarol. The rest all live and die on counter-attack/flank attacks.
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Well, this can change in the (near) future……
http://www.elpais.com.uy/suplemento/empresario/Furor-futbolero-dispara-las-ventas-de-cesped-sintetico/elempre_629207_120309.html
And here a special message:
http://www.domosportsgrass.com/NEWS-3-76150-en.html
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brazil line up for the world cup what u guys think. is it strong?
__________damiao
___neymar_________lucas moura
___________oscar
_____ramires___ luis gustavo
marcelo___________________dani alves
______david luiz_thiago silva
___________cassio
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If Brazil had to qualify to their own World Cup, they would fail to do so
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Well Yorugua! There is no problem for me to agree with you,but to still have some points to add to it,and some other angle on it too.
I am not a reductionist scientific mind based on computer way of thinking;either 0 or 1.
You were right when you said on one place that Suarez,and Cavani are far better than Castro and Seba and others.But on the other side I was right too,since I was counting exported Uruguayan attackers and attacking midfielders,in comparition with the number of exported defenders and defensive midfielders.
It is like you make a census of population;doesnt matter if someone is a professor,a member of academy,and the other is just hobo under the bridge.They both have the same right on a citizenship.
I agree that Uruguay has to work more on passing ability.
However this Verzeri’s team,has beaten very bad Brazil,and Peru(who was dominating).La Celeste could also its way of playing beat Poland,Ireland,Ukraine,I am sure Switzerland,Slovakia,Sweden,Denmark,Greece,Austria,Scotland,maybe Belgium too.Maybe England,which lately totally sucks.
Now we are talking about Spain,Germany,Portugal,Italy,Netherlands,and in the case of Verzeri’s juveniles,about Columbia,Chile(next one, who thrashed Ecuador 4:1),Paraguay.
For playing against Columbia for me really sucked.Because if one team,whose usual outcome was 3 goals on one match,not only cannot score just one goal,but even cannot seriously threaten Columbian goal keeper,that I mean really sucks.
Well,to put down,suddenly the ambitions on only qualifying for WC,while we all know that far less talented generation,on last Sudamericano has won the second place,and only due to Brazil having a dream team which will mostly stay the same or similar as A team on WC 2014,racing for the champion’s title,I think I cannot buy it.Verzeri has had ambition for the first place,now.He has prepared the team for months.But the length of work doesnt count when one doesnt do it properly and has not got enough of knowledge for it.
Now we can pretend that only to qualify was a goal,but after Argentina and Brazil were eliminated,who could first come to the mind of anybody who knows the situation in South America.Who is the team with more titles,even in U 20 Sudamericano,than Uruguay?
Yes,I will say how they played on Wednesday,it sucks.
Yes,they were passing too slow,because,when you pass quicker you move the opposite defensive zone up and down to and fro,and thus create the holes that some attackers can run in and get a passed ball.
It is how Barcelona and Spain play.Similar to handball playing.It is the only way to make such a defensive zone(similar to handball zone)make some mistake,or be late to cover the space.The attack must be quicker than them,in front of them,must be in advantage.
Or we need to play pelotassing way,and than to learn how to be precise in a long passes.Like Poland 1974.was.It was tremendous.Poles will never have such generation.From their own goal-two there strokes and they scored a goal to the opposite side.
However when I watch now,how Uruguay was playing in 50’60′s and 70′s,yes it was a short passes play(passe-corte).How Uruguay has lost its play,I dont know,but certainly it was not due to pitches.There were not different pitches at that time.How Penarol and Nacional have come to the world champion’s title if they played their way through wrong pitches.
I think pitches are only excuse,to cover the fact that something wrong is in a human factor in clubs,and football associations.
The decline of Uruguayan club’s football starts when they started to export their players on a large scale.
It is a negative selection which remains,and also,used up players who return to club.All in all a negative selection.No good player could stabilize its career for a few years in any domestic club,so all went just crazy;these are no clubs but one year projects.They even come from abroad on a half year,and in clausura dissapear in some Mexican,or Argentinian club.
Its a madhouse.Nobody could be better under such circumstances.Look Columbia national A team.Most of their players;except a few are from their domestic league.A guy who buried us Guttierrez is from Junior Barranquilla,a city mostly known as a birthplace of Shakira.
Maybe Columbian domestic football is more sponsored and supported by narco-maffia,and Uruguay is quite a civilized and transparent country to do such things,but the point is that pitches were the same before,and Uruguayan football was a top world class.
I think it is more a human responsibility than Newton’s physics.
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M55 • On this..
Sadly this is true. But since Maestro took over in 2006, became NT Manager and unofficial overlord of the youth system, the priority has been qualification 1st, in other words to turn a disadvantage into a result. Sadly since 1981, No Uruguay side has won at the Under-20 level… so it actually goes beyond Tabarez. I don’t think you’ll see anything different, unless 5 to 6 super-talented kids are found, and then coincidentally all manage to “gel” as a team in a short time… maybe you’ll see a tournament win, but without finding prized defenders, it’ll be very hard to achieve that goal.
The Old Man does have a point that Uruguay being Uruguay, it’ll always be hard to compete with many countries that have ample resources… if there are Super-talented kids playing in Uruguay’s interior states, it’s very hard to localize them because teams from the interior are looked down upon. We’re not living in the X-Men Comic Book world where Professor X can find Mutants with Cerebro’s help… like you said, what’s being sold now are attackers, so if a young buck appears on the scene, it’s usually an attacker.
To bring it back with the article, this is why since 2011, only Aguirregaray is the last player to get graduated from the 2009 side… Who knows if there are any plans to graduate Polenta, I think Tabarez maybe agrees with you, “I got enough attackers! I need some defenders” but again, Polenta for all his can’t miss talents, represents the same kind of organizing centre-back like Godin. There’s a whole queue of that type of player you could start, Godin who is only 26! Then Victorino, Rolin, Coates and finally Polenta who is still playing in Serie-B in Italy.
What Uruguay needs more than anything if we use the NT losses in September and October is a Sweeper/Destroyer Centre-back like Lugano… but not too much of that around. Since Tabarez’s revolution, those kind of players have all but disappeared… Again only Macaluso from Peñarol (same age as Lugano) and Lembo from Nacional (34 years old) ––– I’m pretty sure young destroyers are still around but the youth system managers have to do a better job of finding them. No one really has time to do that, a Manager’s first obligation is the team as whole. But this is where Tabarez needs to drop subtle hints, “Dude I need someone like Lugano… FIND HIM!”
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Yorugua!
You will see Rolan,Laxalt,Varela,maybe Aguirre will be sold immediately after this tour.
But where is Chumacerro for example? Where is Cardona,the best Columbian of the last Sudamericano?
I will tell you;still in their own domestic league.
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as usual less than half will see time for senior side.. any players i should start foillowing… i know el diente lopez is one. rolan and Laxalt… who else
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Danubiano, if we use Alfaro as a rule of thumb, you can maybe expect one or two players on this squad to get selected on the senior side in 6 years or so… provided Tabarez is still the NT manager.
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A couple of nights ago i finally got to watch tres millones( took a while to get the movie since i live in canada) the movie on uruguay’s world cup told by jamie roos and his son great movie reccomend it to any uruguay fan.
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