Uruguay and England will be facing each other in what is now one hell of an important match for both teams as far as qualification from Group D is concerned in the FIFA World Cup 2014. The match will be played on Thursday, June 19 at the Arena de Sao Paulo in Sao Paulo.
Uruguay unexpectedly tumbled to a heavy defeat at the hands of Costa Rica, who were considered to be the minnows in a group which also boasts four time world champions Italy.
The sky blues simply did not turn up for the match as they looked lost against a Costa Rica side that surprised them with their repertoire of skills and nerve in the side’s opening match at the current edition of the World Cup.
The likes of Diego Lugano and Diego Godin are seasoned defenders and will need to focus at the job at hand now rather than thinking about what went wrong against the Costa Ricans.
Uruguay were missing their talismanic striker Luis Suarez on the occasion as the Liverpool striker was rested following a key-hole surgery on his knee a fortnight before the World Cup begun. However, with qualification to the second round at stake, Coach Oscar Tabarez has made it known that Suarez will start against England – where Suarez lit up the Premier League with 31 goals for the season just ended.
Suarez was also voted PFA player of the year for his exploits with the Merseyside club. With Edinson Cavani beside Suarez and Diego Forlan, Uruguay have a real chance against the English defence, which looked shaky against Italy in their opener.
England on the other hand would have felt hard done by after what was actually one of the brightest performances from an England team at the World Cup finals.
It was really pleasing to see Roy Hodgson putting his money where his mouth is as he fielded a youthful team with Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson, and Danny Welbeck all starting. Hodgson also brought on Ross Barkley for thirty minutes in the second half – a move which nearly produced a goal as the Everton youngster went close with a great effort.
If England are able to maintain the high tempo at which they played at Manaus, it is very likely that the Three Lions will end up on the winning side on Thursday. A lot of the attention going into this crucial fixture has been on Wayne Rooney. There have been suggestions that the England number 10 may be dropped, but it seems like a whole lot of rubbish.
Quite clearly, Rooney are the best that England have. It is the one name on the team sheet which draws the most nightmares for the opposition. Hodgson will be well advised to move Rooney in behind Sturridge, which is from where he can do the most damage.
Sterling should start on the right with either Ross Barkley or Adam Lallana taking Welbeck’s place in the lineup. While Welbeck is a really good player who contributes a lot to the team in terms of energy, he is not the best at creating chances or scoring goals – something that Lallana would offer in abundance.
This match is sure to be a cracker of a game with literally everything at stake for both sides.