The World Cup is just four months away. With each passing week, we'll preview two of the 32 competitors leading up to the biggest tournament on the planet. The order is not pre-determined or predictable; we want to keep this exciting.
Uruguay struggled in the middle of the World Cup qualifying campaign but managed to right the ship after an impressive display in last summer's Confederations Cup. Now the team will look to top its fourth place World Cup finish from 2010. Can they do it?
History
Uruguay's history in the tournament is among one of the finest ever. The team won the tournament at home in 1930 and followed it up with a victory in Brazil in 1950. Four years later Uruguay managed a fourth place finish in Switzerland. Those were the team's first three appearances in the tournament.
Of course, that level of success could not endure forever and Uruguay failed in the group stage in 1962 before reaching the quarterfinals in England in 1966. Another fourth place finish ensued during the 1970 tournament in Mexico but the team finished 13th four years later in Germany. The team then failed to qualify for the 1978 and 1982 iterations of the tournament and was then eliminated in the round of 16 in both the 1986 and 1990 tournaments. The team then failed to qualify for the 1994 and 1998 version of the tournament before finishing 26th in 2002. After missing out on Germany in 2006, Uruguay made a statement with another fourth place finish in 2010.
Big Stars
Four years ago it was Diego Forlan who was named tournament MVP for a dominant performance. He has not reached that level since and could find himself on the bench for most of the 2014 tournament, if he goes.
Fortunately the team has two superstars leading the attack. Edinson Cavani has been terrific for Paris Saint-Germain in 2013-14 while Luis Suarez has arguably been the best player in the entire Premier League. He has scored at a blistering pace and looks to be in top form by the time the tournament comes around.
Chances in the Tournament
Uruguay was given a terrible hand when the groups were announced. Being lumped together with England and Italy is surely a punishment that no team deserves and it will be interesting to see how Uruguay handles it. Many see them as the favorites to finish first in the group thanks to their terrific offensive abilities. England's mediocrity makes them the wild card in the group while Italy will also need to perform as it did in the Euro 2012 and avoid repeating its woeful finish in South Africa. Costa Rica is unlikely to pose much of a threat to Uruguay, so those should be three points guaranteed.
If Uruguay gets out of the group it might face Colombia in the round of 16; it could also face Greece, Ivory Coast or Japan depending on which groups get out of Group C. Any one of those four sides would pose few problems for Uruguay and one would guess that the team advances to the quarterfinals at the most. From there it is a possible match with Brazil on one side of the bracket (assuming the host nation gets past the round of 16 test against either Spain, Chile or Netherlands); the other side of the bracket could feature Spain, Chile or Netherlands depending on how the teams finish their groups and whether they get through the round of 16.
Can They Win the Tournament?
It is hard to rule them out. This tournament will be fast-paced and likely attack oriented. With the talents of Suarez and Cavani, anything is possible. However, this team may not be strong enough defensively to withstand a full slate. Expect a quarterfinals exit.
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