Winners of two World Cups and 15 Copa Américas, “La Celeste” are international soccer royalty. The hosts and champions of the inaugural World Cup were also responsible for perhaps the greatest upset in the competition’s history, their 2-1 “Maracanazo” victory over Brazil in 1950 to clinch the title over a heavily favored Brazil side in front of a record crowd of 173,850 mostly Brazilian supporters. They struggled for over half a century between that 1950 triumph and the beginning of the 2010s, but the recent emergence of a golden generation led by Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani propelled them back to international success: Uruguay placed fourth at the 2010 World Cup, then won the 2011 Copa América. However, it all came symbolically crashing down in a group stage match against Italy at the 2014 World Cup. In the 79th minute, the superstar forward Suarez bit Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini; while he did not receive a card on the pitch, after the game FIFA issued a nine-game international ban to Suarez, the longest ever for an on-pitch incident and a ban which would keep the side’s best player out of two consecutive Copa Américas.
However, the Uruguayan squad appears once again to be on the upswing following the appointment of the storied Marcelo Bielsa as manager in May 2023. After his controversial sacking by Leeds United, who Bielsa rescued from nearly two decades in the EFL Championship by winning promotion to the English Premier League in 2020, Uruguay jumped at the opportunity to hire one of the most influential South American managers of all time to install his frenetic system at the international level. Bielsa controversially left Cavani and Suarez out of his first international squad, opting instead to call 14 uncapped players for his first friendlies at the helm. However, Bielsa proved as he so often does that there was a method to his madness: in October 2023, the Uruguayans defeated Brazil 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier, their first victory over Brazil since 2001 and a victory which ended a 37-match unbeaten streak for the Brazilians in qualifiers. Not one to settle, Bielsa led Uruguay to a 2-1 victory over reigning World Cup champions Argentina in his next match, the second goal scored by striker Darwin Núñez on a typically frenetic Bielsa counter-attack after Rodrigo Betancur picked Lionel Messi clean. The attacking combination of Núñez up top with Nicolás de la Cruz behind him as the playmaking 10 shone in those two victories. In a group with the United States, Panama, and Bolivia, failing to qualify for the knockout rounds would be a disaster for Uruguay — and coming off two victories over two world class sides, their supporters will expect more than that. Realistically, “La Celeste” should expect to make it to at least the tournament semifinal, with an outside shot at making a dark-horse run for the Copa title.
Check out Highlights from the World Cup Qualifiers