URUGUAY, THE “INEXHAUSTIBLE QUARRY” (This article is available in English and Español)

I am always surprised about the capacity of Uruguay-specially if we take account of the number of the Uruguayan citizens and number of football players- to get good football´s results and to export many good players, since Uruguay is 2 times World Champion (in 1930 and in 1950 with the famous "Maracanazo"), 2 times in rank 4th of the World (1954 and 1970), 2 times Olympic champion (1924 and 1929), 14 times champion of the Copa America and it has been a cradle of great players during the twentieth century as the mythical World champions in 1930 Héctor "El mago" Scarone-the Uruguayan top scorer with the National team-, Hector "El divino manco" Castro or the scorer Jose Pedro Cea, or as the world champions in 1950: the formidable midfielder Pepe Schiaffino, Alcides Ghiggia-he scored the decisive goal during the final against Brazil- “El negro jefe" Varela or players like Victor Esparrago, "El negro" Cubilla, Antonio Alzamendi-the best South American´s player in 1986 -, Enzo "El principe" Francescoli-one of the my favourite players of the last 30 years- Daniel Fonseca- he played an incredible game against Valencia CF when he scored 5 goals during a UEFA Cup´game between Valencia and Napoli-, Pablo Bengoechea or Alvaro”El chino” Recoba.
So, the "Charrúa" fans have had many times to enjoy during the twentieth century and of course it will be very difficult to them to see again these result, although it is not impossible and in fact, the perspectives for the future are good, since Uruguay has many young players with a very good level, “winning” a lot of experience in important leagues and of course it will have a very powerful team in the following years. If we sum up the players, we can find:

GOALKEEPERS: this line is perhaps the worst, since neither Sebastian Viera-he has not any option to play at Villarreal CF, since Diego Lopez is playing very well and besides Viera is unlucky, because he played last Wednesday against a modest team like Polideportivo Ejido in the King´s Cup and he received 5 goals- neither Gustavo Munúa-he can not play at Deportivo La Coruña after his incident whit the other goalkeeper of the team, Aouate- neither Fabian Carini- I think that it was not good for his career, his stay at Juventus of Turin and Inter Milan –transmit the adequate security and indeed they are not playing with the National Team and the goalkeeper of the team is the Botafogo´s goalkeeper Juan Castillo-although he has a lot of reflexes, he must to improve in some aspects to be a real good goalkeeper-.

DEFENCES: This line is spectacular, because there are many young, but experienced safe, hard, with character players as for example Diego Godín (he is 22 year´s old and he has played 24 games played for the Uruguayan National Team)-he shows an incredible level in every game and it does not matter the stadium where he plays, since for example he played perfect this year at Old Trafford against Manchester United- Diego Lugano (he is 28 year´s old and he has played 33 games with the National team)-the hard leader of the Fenerbahçe's defensive line-or Martin Caceres (he is 21 year´s old and he has played 8 games with the National team)- it is a pity that Pep Guardiola does not trust in him, because he has a lot of potential and quality as he showed last season at Recreativo de Huelva, but as the season is long and there will be injuries, it is sure that Caceres will have chances to play and to demonstrate his quality- (moreover, there are interesting players like Carlos Valdez from Reggina Calcio or a classic, Gonzalo Sorondo from Inter Porto Alegre). The central line is helped by good backs, like the brave Jorge Fucile (23 year´s old) from FC Porto-there are some rumours about the possible Juventus Turin´s interest in this player- or like the powerful Carlos Diogo-although this year he is playing in the Spanish 2 division at Real Zaragoza, he has an excellent level, being a right back with a lot of offensive mentality- or the Benfica's player, Maxi Pereira (he is 24 year´s old and he has played 43 games with the National team), who is a “joker”, since he can play as right back or like right midfielder.

MIDFIELDERS: We also find very interesting players in this position, both defensive and offensive players.
For example, as defensive midfielder, we can find one of the sensations of this year in the Italian Scudetto, we are speaking about the wonderful SSC Napoli´ defensive midfielder, Walter "El Mota" Gargano (he is 24 year´s old and he has played 17 games played with the National Team)-he is the essential player of the team, since thanks to him the other Napoli´s stars Ezequiel Lavezzi, German Denis and Marek Hamšík can play calm, since they know that they have a guarantee behind them(this is a player to follow). Other similar players to Gargano are Carlos Grossmüller (FC Schalke 04) and the Villarreal CF´s powerful Sebastian Eguren (he is 27 year´s old and he has played 17 games with the National team)-he is a complete player, since he is good both to defence and to attack(he has a good shot, although he has not scored for the moment at Villarreal) -. Alongside them, we can also see in the Uruguayan National team players as the RCD Mallorca´right midfielder Gonzalo Castro-he is 24 year´s old and he has played 3 times with the national team-or the smart Cristian "El cebolla" Rodriguez (he is only 23 year´s old but he has already an extensive experience, because he has played at important teams like Peñarol Montevideo, PSG, Benfica or FC Porto-his current club- and 24 games with the national team). In addition we can also find technical players like Fabian Cannobio-he is a good player but perhaps he has not showed all his potential during his Spanish experience- or the smart with vision of the game and quality Juan Albin (the Getafe´s player is 22 year´s old and he has played 1 game with the National team)or the young AC Milan´s player, the technical Mathias Cardaccio-although of course he needs to play in other team on loan in order to be a real competitive player and to have chances to play at the Italian giant-.

OFFENSIVE PLAYERS: The Uruguayan fans can be calm, because the classic Villarreal FC´s Diego Forlán (46 matches and 17 goals with the Uruguayan National team), River Plate´s Sebastian "El Loco” Abreu (45 matches and 27 goals with the national team), SSC Napoli´s Marcelo Zalayeta (33 matches and 10 goals with the national team) or Javier Ernesto Chevantón (21 matches and 7 goals with the National team- he is a good player, although we believe that he is not showing his best version (he played very well during his US Lecce´period) in Spain has not finished exploiting and even far from its level shown in his term in the U.S. Lecce) have good successors as the youth Luis Suarez-this 21 year´s old player has lot of quality, vision of the game, good shot and he can play in any position of the attack and of course he is one of the Ajax Amsterdam´s stars and if his progress continues, he can be a very important player (he has played 16 matches and he has scored 8 goals with the National team) - and Edison Cavani, 21 years and 1.88 cm and he is playing his third seasons at US Palermo and it seems that this will be his takeoff´s season-moreover he offers an excellent level with the National team, since he has scored in 15 games, 10 goals thanks to his individual quality and his ease to score both with any leg and with the head( he is a very good striker and certainly he will be soon in a top European team).
In addition to these 2 realities of the Uruguayan football, we should also pay attention to 2 very young players, the smart Benfica´s striker, Jonathan Urretavizcaya, who is 18 year´s old he arrived to Portugal last summer of Benfica from the Uruguayan River Plate where he scored 8 goals in 14 games and the 19 year´s old Tabare Viudez, who arrived this summer to AC Milan.
Anyway, good players and now it is time to see their limits and specially we will see their surrender during the World 2014, where they can do a very good championship.
Cheers,
J&F