Luis Suarez and Diego Godin seek to perpetuating the great tradition of Uruguay
not being able to compete with the football superpowers, but for almost a century now this small South American country has continued to challenge the logic. Adam Bate examines Uruguay's long love story with the beautiful game.
Have you heard? Football is coming home. Well, it's good news for Uruguay. The Estadio Centenario de Montevideo hosted the first World Cup final and is the only stadium in the world to be designated as a landmark by FIFA. Uruguay won this tournament in 1930 and now they are back in the quarter-finals, dreaming of a rehearsal.
Their success is a miracle in progress. As 15-time Copa America winners with two World Cup triumphs and some Olympic gold medals, it's the most titled nation in the history of football. Extraordinary given that this country has only three and a half million inhabitants, a third of the number of people living in Paris, not to mention France.
So, how does a nation with fewer men than Friday's quarter have opponents have active registered footballers who continue to hit so far above its weight? It's one thing for New Zealand to be the biggest rugby team on the planet, but another to face football – a game that so many richer and wealthier countries cherish so dearly.
In their role as codifiers of this beautiful game and the Brazilians see themselves as its greatest representatives, no nation is really defined by the sport. These countries and others are too influential in the fields of science and art, language, legislature and popular culture for this to be possible.
For Uruguay, it is a little different. its most prominent citizens from the start. When the country won the gold medal at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, Atilio Narancio, then president of the Uruguayan Football Federation, said: "We are more than a small dot on the map of the world."
Eduardo Galeano, famous Uruguayan journalist and football fan
Eduardo Galeano, the famous journalist who was described eminent man of letters, opted for a more evocative language. "The sky blue shirt was proof of the existence of the nation," he writes about these early successes. "Uruguay was not a mistake, football had released this small country in the shadow of universal anonymity."
The second World Cup victory goes back to 1950 when Alcides Ghiggia surprised Brazil in the Maracana. Galeano called it "the most hoarse silence in the history of football" – think 7-1 in Germany but with 140,000 more people. The last Copa America arrived in 2011, more recent than the last triumphs of Brazil and Argentina. Alcides Ghiggia, the top scorer of Uruguay at the 1950 World Cup ” itemprop=”image”/>
Alcides Ghiggia, the scorer of the Uruguay winner of the 1950 World Cup
French star striker Antoine Griezmann welcomed the culture with such enthusiasm that when Uruguay confirmed its place at this World Cup with the victory over Bolivia in March, he was waiting for his team Atletico Madrid – Senators Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez to return. He even wore the jersey of the Uruguay national team.
Griezmann took the habit of drinking mate – a traditional drink in South America – and named Godin the godfather of his young daughter. He even joked that he now feels half Uruguayan. It is a pleasant story, but if the Uruguayan is a state of mind for the Frenchman, his counterpart Luis Suarez points out that it is not just that.
"Antoine says he's half Uruguayan but he's French and he does not really know what it's like to feel Uruguayan," Suarez told his press conference before the match . "He does not know who we are or what we need to do to succeed in football, he loves our customs and he can speak the same language, but we feel differently."
Nacional Futbol Club in Salto, first team of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani
Not many feel it more than Suarez and to understand his psyche is to understand a lot about the Uruguayan mentality and the reasons for it. If life in France is alive with possibilities, it might not always be the case in the small town of Salto where, improbably, Suarez and his attacking companion Edinson Cavani began their travels
Technically , it is the second largest city in Uruguay. are 50 cities in France with a larger population. 15 of the top 16 teams in Uruguay are based in Montevideo and the 16th is not in Salto. "You are not a child of the capital, it is certain," explained Cavani recently. "The children of Montevideo live in a different world, in Salto, it's different."
Melbourne City striker Bruno Fornaroli is another who has emerged from the city and remembers his bus trips alongside Suarez. Capital city. Tellingly, it's not the abilities of the Barcelona striker against the goal that stayed with him, but his "very strong mentality" and the amazing appetite that he has shown to arrive at the Mountain peak.
Banner showing Cavani and Suarez in their hometown of Salto in Uruguay [19659013ThisreflectsinSuarez'sstyleofplayandisequallyevidentinCavani'sapproachaninternationallyrenownedplayerAmericanfootballcorrespondentTimVickerytookthenicknameof"boxstriker"tobox'becauseofhisworkrateThepairusuallyhavetoputmorethanthenextguyAsCavanisays"Youwillcarrythesefeelingswithyouforyourwholelife"
When two men with nearly 100 international goals are so involved in the cause, what is the choice of others? In Godin and Gimenez, Uruguay also boasts of the best center-back partnership of football today. It is not surprising that they are the only team in this World Cup to have yet conceded only one goal in their first four games.
Defensive resilience is a proud tradition and in the increasingly fragile figure of Oscar Tabarez, the coach exists as a living incarnation of these ties to the past. He was at the helm of the 1990 World Cup and also took the lead for the semi-finals in South Africa eight years ago. Oscar Tabarez is the veteran coach overseeing the hopes of the World Cup in Uruguay ” itemprop=”image”/>
Oscar Tabarez is the only one in the world. veteran coach overseeing the hopes of the Uruguay World Cup
Tabarez is 71 years old but it is not possible to stay in the job so long without recognizing the need for renewal. The match against France is a resumption of the 2013 U20 World Cup final and while Paul Pogba has dominated his country to victory by a penalty shot in Istanbul, five of the current team's. Uruguay played in this match. Talent continues to come.
In addition to being world class in both boxes, there is now energy and quality in the midfield with Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Torreira, in particular, two special talents. And despite the reputation of a winning mentality at all costs, this Uruguay team also has the best disciplinary record of the World Cup. It's a team that Galeano would be proud of.
Unfortunately, the great man died in April 2015. A few months later, Ghiggia, the winner's scorer in 1950 also died. The last man of the last winning team of the World Cup in Uruguay. The old icons are gone, but the traditions continue to live – just like the hopes and dreams of a nation. "The story never really says goodbye," wrote Galeano. "The story says: 'See you later.'
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