Sunday, 15 June 2014

Match Preview: Uruguay v England

Who are we playing?
Uruguay in Group D of the 2014 FIFA World Cup
Thursday 19 June 2014 Kick-off: 20:00 BST

Where are we playing?
Arena Corinthians, São Paulo

The Arena Corinthians, also referred to as Arena de Itaquera and Arena de Sao Paulo, was built as a playing venue for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and to provide Corinthians with their own stadium.

Building works started in May 2011 and were planned to be completed in December 2013. However, an incident in which a crane and part of the roof structure collapsed, killing two workers, meant that the opening was pushed back to May 2014. It officially opened on 18 May 2014 with a league match between Corinthians and Figueirense. Earlier, Corinthians had already played a league match at the stadium with reduced capacity.

Can I watch it on the telly?
ITV, sadly.

Big game?
Mahooooosive.
Just before he did the dance

England's young forward thinking, at times free running players may have won us over with their style, confounding people who had already written diatribes about Roy Hodgsons negative style. Sadly, for us, the Italians were far too canny, choosing not to expend great amounts of energy while they were in possession. There weren't many of them falling to the ground with cramp towards the end. Ours were dropping like flies. Naivety perhaps.


Wayne Rooney may have provided the assist for the goal (only possible after  a lovely bit of thinking from Sterling) but despite running his socks off, he never looked happy throughout the game, missing a cracking opportunity and struggling with the defensive duties that playing on the left required him to fulfil. Some criticised Leighton Baines but there's only one of him and as the Italians sought to exploit us down that side, he needed help that poor Wayne wasn't best equipped to provide.

Despair for Uruguay as they are swept aside by Costa Rica
Beating Uruguay is now a must and a distinct possibility.  The South American team's midfield seemed to vanish for long periods against Costa Rica, who took full advantage, with two goals in three minutes turning the group on its head.

If the England -0 Uruguay clash needed any added spice, it will almost certainly see the return of Luis Suarez. This game has all the makings of a classic. Lose and you can start packing to come home. Win and it's game on again.

Exciting innit.

Any famous Uruguayans?
Apparently not. We've consulted our big book of famous Uruguay people and have never heard of any of them.

Who's playing for us?
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City), Fraser Forster (Celtic), Ben Foster (West Bromwich Albion)

Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Luke Shaw (Southampton), Chris Smalling (Manchester United)

Midfielders: Ross Barkley (Everton), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Southampton), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Manchester City), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain [injured and highly unlikely to feature](Arsenal), Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)

Forwards: Rickie Lambert (Southampton), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Daniel Welbeck (Manchester United)

Who's playing for them?
Goalkeepers: Fernando Muslera (Galatasaray), Martin Silva (Vasco da Gama), Rodrigo Munoz (Libertad).

Defenders: Maximiliano Pereira (Benfica) [suspended], Diego Lugano (West Bromwich Albion), Diego Godin, Jose Maria Gimenez (both Atletico Madrid), Sebastian Coates (Liverpool), Martin Caceres (Juventus), Jorge Fucile (Porto).

Midfielders: Alvaro Gonzalez (Lazio), Alvaro Pereira (Sao Paulo), Walter Gargano (Parma), Egidio Arevalo Rios (Morelia), Diego Perez (Bologna), Cristian Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid), Gaston Ramirez (Southampton), Nicolas Lodeiro (Botafogo).

Forwards: Luis Suarez (Liverpool), Edinson Cavani (Paris St-Germain), Abel Hernandez (Palermo), Diego Forlan (Cerezo Osaka), Christian Stuani (Espanyol).

Any useless stats and info?
Hardly any but here we go:
Joe Cole scores against Uruguay
  • We've played Uruguay on 10 occasions, winning three and losing three. There have been 4 drawn matches.
  • Our first World Cup Clash with Uruguay came in the quarter final of the 1954 World Cup . Despite goals from Nat Lofthouse and Tom Finney, we lost 4-2.
  • Our only other World Cup encounter was the disappointing 0-0 draw with them in 1966 World Cup at Wembley.
  • The last time we met was a friendly at Anfield in 2006. Sven Goran Eriksson's team won 2-1 thanks to goals from Peter Crouch and Joe Cole.
Prediction:
A goal filled thriller with suspense, drama and controversy.

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