MY ACCOUNT
– Uruguay’s squad is packed with experience at either end of the pitch and a world-class midfield
– South Korea arrive with their hopes pinned on masked marvel Son Heung-min
– Recommended bet: Uruguay to win to nil
Uruguay arrive at a World Cup without Oscar Tabarez in the dugout for the first time since 2002 but there are still plenty of familiar faces within the South Americans’ squad.
Strikers Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez, centre-back Diego Godin, goalkeeper Fernando Muslera and full-back Martin Caceres are all into their mid-thirties and have 674 international caps between them.
But while they all remain important parts of La Celeste’s squad and first team, it is the midfield that now looks the strongest part of an impressive unit.
A midfield three of Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde, Tottenham’s Rodrigo Bentancur and Lazio’s Matias Vecino provides energy, tenacity and no little quality to add to the class of the seasoned campaigners at either end of the pitch.
They will have high hopes of going deep into the World Cup to give the old guard one last hurrah, and will expect to get off to a flying start against a limited South Korean side.
Team news
Uruguay’s Ronald Araujo is a slight doubt as he continues to recover from thigh surgery in September and is almost certain to feature only from the bench if deemed fit enough.
Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez suffered an ankle knock in training but is expected to be fit to play.
Cavani and Suarez rarely play together these days but Suarez is likely to get the nod ahead of his fellow 35-year-old striker.
South Korean talisman Son Heung-min is expected to play in a protective mask as he recovers from a fractured eye socket.
However, fellow attacker Hwang Hee-chan has been ruled out of the game with a hamstring problem.
The stats
Incoming manager Diego Alonso turned around Uruguay’s qualification fortunes in spectacular style.
La Celeste failed to win any of their five qualifiers leading up to his appointment – scoring just one goal in that run and conceding 11 as they lost four and drew one – but won their next four to reach Qatar.
In nine matches under Alonso, Uruguay have kept seven clean sheets and failed to win only twice – a 1-0 friendly defeat to Iran and a 0-0 friendly draw against USA.
Qatar 2022 is South Korea’s 10th consecutive World Cup finals appearance but they have won only one of their last nine matches on the biggest stage – a shock 2-0 victory over Germany when already eliminated from Russia 2018 – and six of those nine outings ended in defeat.
Prediction
While South Korea have their qualities, most notably in Tottenham’s Son and Napoli centre-back Kim Min-jae, they lack the depth of quality and experience available to Uruguay manager Alonso.
La Celeste are dangerous in attack and boast plenty of knowhow in defence. However, their greatest asset is a quality midfield who can starve South Korea of the ball and deny them the opportunities to supply balls into Son and his fellow attackers.
It is likely to be a tightly fought encounter – and under 2.5 goals would be a sensible addition to a BetBuilder selection – but the best bet is to back Uruguay to win to nil, which is available at 6/5 with LiveScore Bet.
