Steven Petrov
The Paw Print
The country from the southeastern part of South America has a history of winning the World Cup twice in the far 1930 and 1950, as well as three lost third-place matches respectively in 1954, 1970 and 2010. At first glance this may not seem like a lot due to the long period of time that has passed since Uruguay won the World Cup, but in order to be as detailed as possible in the explanation why “La Celeste” falls into the “Major Contenders” group we need to look at the country’s outstanding performance in all other international competitions that it participates in, as well as the relatively consistent and solid performance within the World Cup tournaments.
Just like Europe has the European championship to determine what the best team in the “old continent” is, South America has a tournament called “Copa America.” The idea of having a regularly held tournament among the South American countries has been present ever since 1916. From the day of its originating to 1975 it was called the “South American Championship.” Being held much more often compared to the World Cup competition (every 1 or 2 years), it provides us with a more consistent and thorough information regarding “La Celeste” performance throughout the years. From 1916 to 1975 Uruguay had won 11 South American Championships as well as 2 World Cups. These statistics testify to the significant role that “La Celeste” had had in the South American and World football (soccer) at that time. In 1975 the name of the South American Championship was changed to the present one, Copa America. There have been 14 Copa America tournaments held roughly every 3 years for those 36 years from 1975 to 2011. The “light blue” have won 4 trophies (1983, 1987, 1995, 2011) and also were runners-up in both the 1989 Copa America in Brazil and the 1999 Copa America in Paraguay.
Even though Uruguay hasn’t won the World Cup since the 1950s, the country has a huge tournament experience and phenomenal results in other international competitions as described above. These are major predetermines for a successful summer in Brazil next year.
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be remembered with the great and surprising performance of “La Celeste.” Placing 1st in Group “A,” Uruguay beat South Korea in the Round of 16 with 2:0 and the promising team of Ghana at the quarterfinals with 4:2. The team reached the semi-finals only to lose to the Netherlands with 3:2 after putting up a great fight. Even though “La Celeste” lost the third-place match against Germany with 2:3, the “light blues” forward Diego Forlan was voted the tournament’s best player and one of the top goal scorers at the Mundial. Following the World Cup in South Africa, 2011 also turned out to be another successful year for the Uruguayan team, winning the Copa America for a 4th time. The team is currently taking the 5th place in the CONMEBOL (South American Football Association) qualifying group with 22 points. With having 2 more games against Ecuador and Argentina in mid-October, and being already tied for the 4th place in the group (Uruguay and Ecuador both have 22 points), which gives direct qualification for the World Cup. Uruguay is most definitely going to place within the first 4 teams after the last two qualifying games. With the great performance of “La Celeste” in the recent years, the team is definitely looking at the upcoming World Cup in 2014 as the place where they can show the world that what happened 4 years ago in South Africa was not by chance!
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