Superbowl Sunday prevented this Blog from posting last night. The Superbowl is the mother of all sporting events, it’s a World Cup final with 4 added hours of self-promotion and television commercials; it’s all that and a bag of chips! But you have my word that I will not talk about the Superbowl – I will talk some Under-20 and Spain Vs. Uruguay if you don’t mind.
Ray Lewis would've been proud of Uruguay's Under-20 kids... 'cuz they got the job done.'
Before the Superbowl got started, I did get to see the 2nd half of the Uruguay Vs Ecuador Under-20 Match… Uruguay’s Under-20 campaign counted where it should have, Uruguay qualified to Turkey by defeating Ecuador 5 minutes into the match. The goal, courtesy of Nico Lopez, who took away tournament goal-scorer honors (he scored six goals in the tournament). CONMEBOL was in a giving mood and gave Uruguay the FIFA Fair Play Award… nice! And an Under-20 World Cup berth ain’t bad either.
So our friend Juan Verzeri is 3 for 3 with regards to tournament qualifications. Thus far he has has qualified Uruguay to the 2011 Under-20 World Cup, the 2012 Olympics and now the 2013 Under-20 World Cup. Not bad… not bad at all.
Nico Lopez led all scorers in the South American Under-20 tournament.
I’ll stop here with regards to the Under-20 tournament because well, I think it’s time we did. Lets move on to other pressing news.
What other pressing news could interest this Blog? That El Chino Recoba scored another Olympic Goal? The goal which culminated in a Loco Abreu/Chino Recoba Bro-hug… not really (although I will upload the goal in case you missed it).
But I was thinking more about the upcoming friendly with Spain.
So we all know Casillas was ruled out a couple of weeks ago, but then Xabi Alonso and Xavi Hernandez were also ruled out this weekend. Hmmm now we’re hearing that Gaston Ramirez will not make the final cut for Uruguay — but no worries, the rest of Uruguay’s roster are all going.
On paper, Spain still has enough weapons on their roster to get the win but now I’m not so sure I want to co-sign my name on a Uruguay loss. A Uruguay win wouldn’t be shocking and a draw, given that it is Spain we’re facing, would be pretty good.
Personally though, I wished we would’ve faced Spain at full strength. There’s a part of me that wants to know, check that, needs to know where Uruguay really stands. But here we are, Spain is missing two key players, three if you add Casillas. The Question of whether Uruguay is good enough to beat the best of the best will have to be answered on another day. Spain minus three is still Spain, so the friendly still stands as a huge test for Uruguay and regardless of who Spain fields on Wednesday, Tabarez and company will gladly accept the challenge.
Yorugua
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Yorugua
FourThreeThree
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NicoGF
Recoba has put his olympic goals onto a conveyor!
Yes I agree that a victory vs Spain on Wednesday would be a pleasant surprise, but not a major shock – but why should it be one, after all it’s reigning champions of Europe against reigning champions of South America…
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Yoru, take the picture of that snitch off of this article. Ray Lewis is a piece of shit.
Vamos Uruguay!
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LOL… yes, you are correct sir but picture stays!
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Charrua –– I see RedBulls sent Kenny Cooper to Dallas.. This is why I can’t get into the MLS man, too many changes ––– Cooper was the only player I can stomach from that team and now he’s gone!
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Super Cooper..lol. That’s because Henry didn’t like Cooper. The energy drinks kiss Henry’s ass and Hans Backe was Henry’s little bitch. Henry and Cahill made Backe not start Cooper in a playoff match.
Email me man. I gotta talk to you.
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Best way to reach me is thru Twitter… DM me at @lacelesteblog
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Chino,El Genio.In quite a short time he has scored 3 “olimpicos”.Who has ever done this in the history?
I have noticed that Uruguayan teams play much better when they face Argentinian ones.So this is a clue.Let’s join both associations in some kind of federation,and to establish after the national championships,a Rioplatense league.These would draw many spectators on the stadium,since Argentinian clubs,and Argentinian football inspire for a fierce rivalry.This would automatically rise up the quality and motivations of players and teams.
I think joined Argentinian-Uruguayan,regional league can do a lot for the quality of Uruguayan football.
Or even to invite Paraguay to join it.6 best teams from both(or from three),could completely change the football atmosphere in these lands.Could transform Uruguayan national football,and inspire a competition in national leagues to qualify into Rioplatense one.
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Joao Havelange had proposed something similar… don’t quote me on it, but he did at one point suggest Nacional and Penarol should join the Brasileirao…
With regards to an Argentinean “Rio Platense” League, I don’t know… Other than Nacional and Penarol, would Argentina want anybody else? I doubt it.
What should be done is scale back the # of teams in the Uruguay Primera to 8 or 12.
Institute some type of Cup that allows 1st division teams to play 2nd division teams, sort of like the FA Cup
Get rid of the Apertura/Clausura… Make it one long tournament from February to November.
From December to January, I don’t know… allow the 2nd Division teams to finish out their season.
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Y!
Well,I think we could add to Nacional,and Penarol,at least Defensor too.And I would say Liverpool.Fenix,River Plate(M),Wanderers,Bella Vista,Cerro Largo,El Tanque could sort out among themselves two clubs more.6 best clubs from Uruguay and 10 or 12 from Argentina.
Or 3 from Uruguay(Penarol.Nacional,Defensor)3 from Paraguay(Libertad,Olimpia,Cerro Porteno,or Guarani),and 10-12 from Argentina.
Anyway they should play much more,than they do.Much more competitive matches,not some friendly Verano cups,some leagues.Maybe even make the league smaller as you said(8-10 clubs) and play 4 legs.
For Paraguayos I am sure they would agree with regional league,since they use so often to come on friendly tournaments in Uruguay.
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M55
It used to be Danubio and Defensor were the other two… with what’s happening with Danubio lately, I would say only Defensor qualifies as the “other” option. But would other leagues be interested in Defensor? I doubt it.
Best teams in Uruguay’s primera are Peñarol, Nacional, Defensor and El Tanque Sisley (with Möller) ––– the rest don’t rate for me personally, some teams have good spells like Fenix or before them Liverpool but then a coaching change or loss of player puts them right back where they were before, nowhere.
Cerro Largo was good last year, but Rino Lucas left CL and is playing in Venezuela now! So we have to see how they do without him in this upcoming tournament.
Regarding Paraguay League –– I’m gonna be honest, I’ve never seen a league match, have no clue what type of ball they play… to me Paraguay is like North Korea, very “Alien-like” and Unknown. What little I know of their league is based on what kind of teams they field in the Libertadores.
I’ve seen domestic league matches from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia & Ecuador but nothing from Paraguay ––– Bolivia also looks interesting (in the Copa Sudamericana) but like Paraguay, never seen a domestic league match.
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