Uruguay wants to start their first major competition post-Oscar Tavares era in a bright fashion against South Korea in their 2022 World Cup opener.
La Celeste’s campaign four years back was ended by France in the quarterfinal stage while South Korea got their bag packing from the group stages even after stunning Germany 2-0 in the last match of that tournament.
URU vs KOR Match Details
Date: Wednesday, 24 August 2022
Time: 18:30 (IST)
Venue: Education City Stadium, Al-Rayyan
URU vs KOR Match Preview
After managing his side in the last three World Cups, manager Oscar Tavares will no longer be holding the seat for the 2022 tournament. The 74-year-old coach in the job since 2006 was sacked in the qualifiers following a string of poor results. Four successive losses including the 3-0 loss to Bolivia a year ago after which Tavares got the sack almost put Uruguay out of contention. Then Diego Alonso took the charge and the team rebounded by winning the remaining qualifiers to achieve the third automatic spot. In the four matches, La Celeste conceded only one goal and scored eight. Uruguay also kept three clean sheets in the four preparatory games but results against USA and Iran were less convincing. However, staying unbeaten in eight of the nine games so far under the new manager will ooze confidence in Qatar. Uruguay have also won seven games this year scoring two or more goals on five occasions. The squad had retained their massive experience holders in Fernando Muslera, Diego Godin, Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez alongside exhibiting talents like Darwin Nunez and Federico Valverde. The combination will be crucial for the side in a challenging group with Portugal, Ghana and South Korea. On Wednesday, they face the latter to begin their quest in the 2022 World Cup. La Celeste are aiming to mimic their excellent group stage campaign in 2018 winning all of their games and conceding none but it will be a bigger task this time around. South Korea could be unpredictable opposition yet Diego Alonso will motivate his players to get the three players on board.
Coach Paulo Beneto is stressing South Korea’s solid defence to take them through from this group in the 2022 World Cup. They conceded merely three goals in their final AFC qualifying round and also lost only twice this year on route to Qatar. A definite sign of optimism as the business gets along. Only twice in the past 10 appearances that the Reds managed to reach the knockouts in the tournament, first when they hosted in 2002 and the next in 2010. With the competition hosted again in Asia, South Korea will take inspiration from that run to the semi-finals 20 years ago. A repeat of that looks like a very distant possibility for this side that has only a handful of World Cup experience mainly in 2018. Defender Kim Young-Gwon and talisman Son Heung-Min are the only players featuring for the third tournament. Although, they are capable enough to make it hard for the opposition to disable their unity. Having said that, Beneto has received the heat from fans for being too negative in his approach and declining to use more creative players in the starting eleven. The team once again are heavily dependent on Son to come up with the magic as he does with his club Tottenham Hotspurs. Facing another defensively robust side in Uruguay, South Korea fears the game will be decided on fine margins and one that they desperately want to fall in their way. They have registered only one victory in eight overall meetings against the South American nation but with Asian nations claiming huge wins in the tournament, this could be their turn.
Recent Form
URU: WLWDW
KOR: WWDWD
URU vs KOR Team News
Uruguay may not start Ronald Araujo for this game to ease him through after having a thigh operation. He was set to miss the tournament altogether but manage to get into the training only a few days before the squad announcement. Guillermo Varela will step into the right-back spot instead with the 2018 World Cup center-back partnership of Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez resuming here. Fernando Muslera, who has been the number one for Uruguay in the last three editions, will have to make way for the more preferred Sergio Rochet under coach Diego Alonso. Edinson Cavani could also be a substitute for the opener with Luis Suarez and Darwin Nunez starting up front in the iconic 4-4-2 formation for La Celeste.
Read Here Uruguay’s Squad for FIFA World Cup 2022 & Team Profile and South Korea FIFA World Cup 2022 Squad and Team Profile
The big news from the South Korean camp is that their star man Son Heung-Min will be available for the tournament opener. The Tottenham Hotspurs player underwent eye surgery after a collision in the last group stage of the Champions League game against Marseille earlier this month. Dismissing fears of missing the World Cup, he made himself available to go to Qatar. He has the chance now to begin against Uruguay.
URU vs KOR Predicted Lineups
URU: Sergio Rochet; Guillermo Varela, Diego Godin, Jose Gimenez, Mathias Olivera; Federico Valverde, Matias Vecino, Rodrigo Bentancur, De Arrascaeta; Luis Suarez, Darwin Nunez
KOR: Kim Seung-gyu; Kim Moon-hwan, Kim Young-gwon, Kim Min-jae, Kim Jin-su; Jung Woo-Young, Hwang In-beom, Lee Jae-sung; Hwang Hee-chan, Son Heung-min, Hwang Ui-jo
Must Read | FIFA World Cup 2022: Uruguay - World Cup Records and Stats and FIFA World Cup 2022: South Korea - World Cup Records and Stats
URU vs KOR Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Rochet (6)
DEF: Gimenez (8.5), Godin (8), Kim Min-jae (8.5), Kim Young-gwon (7.5)
MID: Valverde (9), Bentancur (8.5), In-beom (8)
FW: Son (9), Suarez (9), Nunez (9)
Vice-captain: Son Heung-min
Captain: Luis Suarez
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