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Friday’s second quarter final fixture between Uruguay and Ghana at Johannesburg’s Soccer City Stadium will be the first ever meeting between these two sides at senior level. Surprisingly though, the Black Satellites ( Ghana’s u-20 side) drew 2-2 with Uruguay in the group stages of last years U-20 tournament which they went on to win.

Six of the players who won that tournament are now in the  senior squad with Andre Ayew being the most notable of them all. The 21 year old will however miss Friday’s match after he picked up a second yellow card in their 2-1 victory over the USA.  Read more... (573 words, 1 image, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Operation Reach for the Sky

The General:

Oscar Washington Tabarez is one of the many coaches this summer in South Africa with previous experience in the World Cup final.  For Tabarez his experience is more dated then most stretching all the way back to 1990 when the manager motivated his homeland’s side to what was considered a disappointing second round finish.  Now twenty years later, Tabarez looks to advance his Uruguay side even further in the event.

The Plan of Attack:  Read more... (420 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

The Glass is Half Full

Uruguay will win the World Cup because they have one of the tournament’s most explosive offenses and one of the Cup’s richest histories.  The club was not only the first team to ever win the Cup, but they were also the second team to ever win two titles (behind Italy of course).  Not too shabby for a nation of less then 3 million total people.  And this year they boast one of the most impressive South American offenses including striker Diego Forlan and secondary striker Luis Suarez.  If they can create goals like they did in the WCQ then they should move on to the second round.  And who knows.  Maybe they can become one of the only nations to ever win the event three times.  Read more... (297 words, estimated 1:11 mins reading time)

The Keeper

Viera and Castillo will battle it out for the honor of starting goalie.  Either way Uruguay decides to go means that they lack a really solid keeper in the net and this is one of their most suspect units right now.  Usually a solid defensive club, they will have to prove their worth this Cup because the club’s D didn’t play up to their potential in the WCQ.

Grade: C +

The Defense  Read more... (403 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

THE PAST

Most people do not know this little fact, but Uruguay was the first ever champions of the World Cup and the nation was also the host of the first ever World Cup as well.  The team did win the Cup under much different rules then the current ones (only 13 teams competed), but they also won the title once again in 1950 in Brazil.  After that second victory the club did make it to the semi-finals twice, but they haven’t advanced that far in the tournament since 1970.  In their last five attempts to make the Cup, Uruguay has only made the event twice and haven’t advanced past the second round since that 1970 Cup run.  Read more... (337 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)