The Uruguayan coach, Diego Alonso, in the match against Portugal. Darko Vojinovic (AP)
Fede Valverde left the Lusail stadium on Monday with his head down like a punished child, showing (or exhibiting) despondency after Uruguay's new disaster: 2-0 against Portugal.
Dramatically, he didn't even make a move to raise his head during the zigzag 100 meters he had to travel to get out of the compound.
Edinson Cavani also passed by there and he did pick it up.
What is happening to them? they released him.
“You have to ask [Diego] Alonso [el seleccionador] that.
He can talk to you more tactically,” he retorted with a shrug.
A while before, still on the pitch, defender José María Giménez had left another disturbing message: "The same thing happened to us as in the first game [0-0 against South Korea], we didn't go out to win," he analyzed.
One point, zero goals and poor football in the first two appointments have placed the Charrúas against the wall in the World Cup before the last day against Ghana (4:00 p.m., World Cup Goal), and the new coach, Tornado Alonso, in a compromised position.
For the game and for the trail left by the words of some members of the dressing room.
The stinginess of the team, always aculated at the beginning, has turned their eyes away from the new coach, successor since January to a national reference like Óscar Washington Tabárez (75 years old).
The exhaustion of ideas, results and even physique ended the period of three decades of the
Master
, with whom La Celeste won the 2011 Copa América, and this 47-year-old appeared, captivating the managers with his drive.
In the portfolio he carried the name of Profe Ortega, Atlético's physical trainer, and that also raised his internal price.
In the 2000s, Alonso made a short career in Spain (Valencia, Atlético, Racing, Málaga and Murcia) and then began a modest career on the bench until his promotion to the national team.
He inherited a very delicate position (seventh in the World Cup standings) and four straight victories put Uruguay on the road to Qatar.
However, once in Doha, the bankruptcy has proved huge in the boot.
The mixture of several of his best older ones (Luis Suárez, Cavani and Godín) with emerging youngsters (Valverde or Darwin Núñez; Araujo is still injured) has not left a shred of play.
Uruguay has managed, yes, to manufacture several quite clear occasions in each game, but not even that has hidden his poverty.
"I clarified the issue with Cavani and Giménez"
With a refreshing effect when it landed, the non-appearance of the team to date in Qatar has placed Tornado Alonso in the face of crisis, due to the non-existent football of their team and due to the statements of some not minor players.
“They [Cavani and Giménez] came to talk to me and we clarified the issue.
For me it is closed.
I understand what they wanted to say ”, the coach wanted to settle this Thursday, who said he felt the support of the dressing room.
“We must recover the joy.
I think it is a matter of trust, of letting go and enjoying ourselves, ”he analyzed.
"It bothers me to be like this because there is quality and players for more," lamented Luis Suárez, protagonist of the previous one by federal mandate to try to transmit a weighty message in times of doubt.
“I said it in the locker room: we all have to go one step further, I the first.
The player is used to looking for excuses, but it's time to take responsibility.
This is a World Cup”, stressed the 35-year-old striker.
“The Uruguayan knows how to suffer and in this situation he always gives up.
That leaves me alone,” he added.
More information
Iñaki Williams: "I was afraid of how the Ghanaian fans would receive me"
Semifinalist in 2010, eighth in 2014 and quarterfinal in 2018, the duel against Iñaki Williams' Ghana does not admit gray on the Uruguayan side.
He needs to win and for South Korea not to beat Portugal on a goal difference that exceeds his own.
The Africans, with three points, also play it.
Even a draw could be worth it.
The clash also offers past troubles between the two.
In the 2010 quarterfinals, Uruguay eliminated their rival on penalties with a finish to rewind: Suárez cleared a singing goal in the last minute of extra time with his hands over the line at 1-1, he was left without a semifinal, but Asamoah Gyan stamped it on the crossbar from 11 meters.
The same distance from which a few minutes later his team ended up dying in the decisive round.
A national drama that this Thursday did not cease to be remembered.
"I don't have to apologize for that.
I didn't miss the penalty”, settled the Uruguayan, pressured more by the present than by the past.
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Classification
Group H | PT | P.J. | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 BY | 6 | two | two | 0 | 0 |
two GHA | 3 | two | 1 | 0 | 1 |
3 COR | 1 | two | 0 | 1 | 1 |
4 URU | 1 | two | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Group H | PT | P.J. | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 BY | 6 | two | two | 0 | 0 |
two GHA | 3 | two | 1 | 0 | 1 |
3 COR | 1 | two | 0 | 1 | 1 |
4 URU | 1 | two | 0 | 1 | 1 |
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