Uruguay left in precarious position after another disappointing World Cup draw
Uruguayan soccer fans showed up as you’d expect, singing, chanting, wearing their face paint, waving their flags.
One was even wearing a crown and cape like a king.
But after 90-plus minutes against Cape Verde on Sunday night at Hard Rock Stadium, the smiles turned to seething expressions and consternation.
Uruguay tied again, this time a 2-2 stalemate against another adversary that less than two weeks ago, pretty much every soccer pundit would have deemed inferior.
And it’s now left a proud nation that’s long been seeking a return to the glory it experienced in 1930 and 1950 when it won two World Cups, facing an early exit for the second consecutive time in the biggest event of the sport.
“We’re in a situation we couldn’t have imagined after these two games,” Uruguayan midfielder Nicolas De La Cruz said in Spanish after the game. “It’s football and every game is tough. We just have to put our heads down and keep working hard because we still have one match left.”
Uruguayan fans came to Miami in droves to watch their side play its first two matches over the past week believing they would leave in prime position to advance to the knockout stage for the first time since 2018 when it reached the quarterfinals.
Their group included mighty Spain, the 2010 champions, Saudi Arabia, which has only advanced past the knockout stage once in 1994 and first-timer Cape Verde.
Instead, Uruguay finds itself tied with Cape Verde just as it was on the scoreboard Sunday with two points each in the Group H standings and likely needing to beat the aforementioned Spain on Friday night in their final group match in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Cape Verde, one of the surprises of the tournament so far following draws against Spain and Uruguay, is in a seemingly more favorable position as it can seal a spot in the knockout stage with a win Friday over Saudi Arabia.
“Obviously we needed this one in order to take on a rival of the caliber of Spain a little more comfortably,” midfielder Juan Manuel Sanabria said. “But we didn’t. We lacked consistency. We had chances but we converted very few and they did on a couple against us.”
Uruguay had been showing the cracks in its armor for almost a year, however.
A major example was an embarrassing 5-1 blowout loss in an international friendly against Team USA on November 18 of last year in Tampa. It was the first time the United States scored five goals against a South American opponent or a previous World Cup champion.
Uruguay has not won a match of any sort since Oct. 13 of last year when it beat Uzbekistan 2-1 in a friendly match. That stretch includes draws against Mexico, Algeria and England.
There were also calls for Uruguayan coach Marcelo Bielsa’s firing following the lopsided loss to the U.S.
After Sunday’s result, Bielsa expressed his disappointment.
“We had the ball in the second half, but we weren’t attacking well and then that led to the second goal,” Bielsa said. “The team was highly disorganized and we would attack by them risking scoring a goal against us at the end of the match.”
Uruguay needed a goal from Maximiliano Araujo to salvage a 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabia on June 15.
On Sunday, Araujo again appeared to rescue Uruguay with a game-tying goal in the 44th minute that was the start of a pre-halftime scoring flurry that continued when Agustin Canobbio found the back of the net in the sixth and final stoppage minute of the first half to give his side a 2-1 halftime lead.
But then a mistake on the defensive end cost Uruguay dearly when Mathías Olivera’s errant pass allowed Cape Verde’s Helio Varela to take the ball past goalkeeper Fernando Muslera and tie the game again in the 61st minute.
“We dominated possession and were attacking the whole match,” Sanabria said. “We just suffered on counterattacks. The fault is ours because we made too many mistakes.”
