Uruguay World Cup 2018
The first ever World Cup winners, Uruguay, are hoping they can turn the clock back and challenge to become world champions for a third time in their history.
History at the World Cup
Uruguay hosted and won the first ever World Cup back in 1930, and then won the trophy again the second time they participated in the tournament twenty years later. Since then, there have been several highs, with three fourth place finishes, and more than a few lows, with failure to qualify six times and three group stage exits. They have performed well at their last two finals tournaments and will be hoping to reach the latter stages again in Russia.
In 2010, they reached the Semi Final thanks in large part to the performances of player of the tournament, and top scorer, Diego Forlan. They topped their group, and beat South Korea and Ghana in the knock out stages, before the Netherlands proved to be one step too far. They then lost to Germany to end up as fourth-placed finishers that year.
In Brazil 2014, they finished second in their group, ahead of England and Italy, to advance to the last 16. Unfortunately, they couldn’t recreate their fantastic run from four years earlier and Colombia beat them 2-0.
- World Cup Finals Appearances – 12
- Previous Best Performance – Winners (twice)
How they qualified
Uruguay came through an extremely tough CONMEBOL qualifying campaign, finishing second of the ten teams in the group.
They won nine of their eighteen matches, drew four, and lost five, which gave them a total of thirty-one points at the end of the campaign. That was enough to finish three points ahead of Argentina and book their place at the finals in Russia.
Brazil stood head and shoulders over everyone else, but it was a fantastic effort for Uruguay to finish above the likes of Argentina, Colombia, and 2017 Confederations Cup finalists Chile.
Edinson Cavani top-scored for Uruguay, and indeed headed the list of top scorers in the CONMEBOL region, with ten goals during qualifying. That was three goals more than Lionel Messi, Alexis Sanchez, and Gabriel Jesus.
Coach/Manager
Oscar Tabarez has been head coach of the Uruguay national team since 2006, leading them to two World Cup finals tournaments during that time.
In fact, he has led them to three finals tournaments as he qualified them for Italia 1990 during his previous two-year spell in-charge.
Uruguay have made it past the group stage of the World Cup in all three tournaments under Tabarez’s management.
The 70-year-old is a highly experienced manager who took charge of his first club back in 1980.
Star Players
If you asked most football fans to name one Uruguay player, they would probably answer either Luis Suarez or Edinson Cavani.
Suarez and Cavani are the two stand-out stars for the national team, netting 89 goals between them and forming one of the most lethal attacking pairings in international football.
They sit one and two in the list of all-time top scorers for Uruguay. Suarez has scored 49 and Cavani has netted 40, whilst the latter has earned a few more caps.
Other than the two main attacking threats, the Uruguay squad is filled with experience.
Indeed, the two most capped players in their history, Maxi Pereira and Diego Godin, were part of the most recent Uruguay squad.
Uruguay World Cup 2018: Assessing Their Chances & Odds
Uruguay have been given a favourable draw, seeing as they were in pot two and could have been drawn against the top European teams. Instead, they were handed a spot in Group A alongside Russia, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
That has led to them being made betting favourites to top the group, albeit a narrow one at odds of 11/10.
While the bookies believe Suarez and co will make it through the group, they aren’t among the favourites to go all the way and become world champions.
Ladbrokes have them priced at 25/1, which means they are behind seven teams in terms of betting odds.
We tend to agree with what the betting odds suggest here, as we believe Uruguay will make it through as group winners and face a possible hard-to-call last 16 match against Portugal, who are priced the same in the outright tournament winner market.
If they could get through that, a probable Quarter Final with France would then await and that is where we think the World Cup will end for them.
Our Uruguay World Cup Prediction
Our prediction is that Uruguay will make it through to at least the last 16, with a high possibility of reaching the Quarter Final.