FIFA World Cup 2018: Uruguay

Uruguay are one of the true heavyweights of international football with two FIFA World Cup titles in their trophy cabinet. Granted, the last of those came in 1950 but Uruguay still manage to do well from time to time. Most recently their fourth place finish at the 2010 FIFA World Cup highlighted their quality. They have again qualified for this summers tournament and boast one of the best squads in Russia 2018 under mega-experienced coach Oscar Tabarez. Incredible for a country with a population just over three million.

Uruguays squad

Coach: Oscar Tabarez

Tabarez has been in charge of Uruguay for what seems like forever. The 71-year-old has a wealth of experience behind him having coached professionally since 1980. Hes had two stints with the Uruguay U20s side and also coached Uruguays first team from 1988-1990. His current stint as coach of Uruguay started in 2006 and as mentioned he led them to the semi-finals in 2010. He also led them through a group also consisting of England and Italy at the last tournament. His organised 4-4-2 will be the basis for Uruguay this summer and his experience together with the top quality players at his disposal could be about to bring more success to the small South American country with the huge football heritage.

Goalkeepers
Fernando Muslera, Martin Silva, Martin Campana

Defenders
Diego Godin, Sebastian Coates, Jose Maria Gimenez, Maximiliano Pereira, Gaston Silva, Martin Caceres, Guillermo Varela, Diego Laxalt

Midfielders
Nahitan Nandez, Lucas Torreira, Matias Vecino, Federico Valverde, Rodrigo Bentancur, Carlos Sanchez, Giorgian De Arrascaeta, Cristian Rodriguez, Jonathan Urretaviscaya, Nicolas Lodeiro, Gaston Ramirez

Forwards
Cristhian Stuani, Maximiliano Gomez, Edinson Cavani, Luis Suarez

Tabarezs tactics

Tabarez sets his team out in a 4-4-2 and wants the team to be very compact when defending. They defend in a positionally-orientated system where the focus is to close off the centre and force the opponent wide. When the ball is won they often look to quickly transition through their devastating front two of Cavani and Suarez. Below you see their compact lines of four in their own half with Suarez just in front of the midfield in this scene.

In the below image we see the way Uruguay start their defending. The front two of Suarez and Cavani are closely connected to the midfield four. Uruguay push the opponent into the wide areas by keeping such a narrow shape. They also lure teams into pressing traps as well see.

The below image is from a few seconds