WC-MOTD8
Day 8:-
Uruguay vs. England:-
On a night when the stakes were so high, the English were left to rue what never was and, perhaps, feel a tad undone by one or two key moments that could have altered the course of their WC campaign.
The game saw some changes in both teams’ formations; with Coach Roy Hodgson opting to deploy Wayne Rooney in the No. 10 role which suits him best, while also pushing Sterling to his natural right-wing position as England looked to get the most out of their players, all the while attempting to retain the balance they somewhat had against Italy.
Meanwhile, with Uruguay Captain Diego Lugano injured and LB Maxi Pereira suspended, Coach Óscar Tabárez chose to switch Martín Cáceres to the right side of defense to accommodate natural LM Álvaro Pereira in the LB role.
Moreover, in order to accommodate both of Uruguay’s main (brilliant) strikers cohesively, coach Tabárez dropped Gargano in favor of Álvaro González as he looked to play a natural diamond formation in favor of the flat 2 DM midfield line-up from the Costa Rica game. The fulcrum of said formation was Nicolás Lodeiro who offered impressive levels of dynamism and technicality in the offensive AM role.
The changes reaped wonders for both sides (more for Uruguay though) as both teams seemed more confident in their style of play than their previous games.
Uruguay spent a good amount of the first half pressing England all over the pitch; but at the same time exercising a level of caution at the back so as to avoid leaving any gaping holes either sides of the pitch.
England were a tad passive in their play and seemed out of ideas at times during the first half when they were holding onto possession.
The fact that Uruguay were effectively closing down spaces limited England’s options going forward, and they were forced to constantly shift the ball from one side to the other. Uruguay, meanwhile, were not offering much in the way of creative midfield play.
The game was very tight for the majority of the first half with many physical challenges between several players. England were rather flat in their offensive approach and were lacking that spark which Rooney was supposed to provide; mainly because he was closely and excellently being zeroed-out by Arévalo Ríos.
The first half ended shortly after Uruguay managed a quick counter-attack in which Lodeiro played Cavani through, who sent a beautiful cross behind Jagielka (remind you of the Italy game?!) for Suarez to score.
It was a very tactical game from both teams for most of the half; with Uruguay successfully closing down spaces with their compact set-up and making sure that Rooney didn’t get much freedom (although, one has to admit that they should consider themselves lucky for not being down to 10 men as Godín clearly deserved to be given his marching orders TWICE!).
England’s lack of offensive ideas and dynamic play saw them fail to properly utilize possession in the first half. In addition, they weren’t very lethal with executing set-pieces (pretty uncommon!).
The second half saw Uruguay dominate play for a while as England were struggling to get the ball out of their own half.
The English were simply not committing enough bodies forward, not being aggressive enough and also failing to create real threats in the opposition’s final third. Uruguay, on the other hand, were executing their game plan pretty well; defending in numbers and waiting for counters.
It is worth mentioning here that Uruguay’s deep defensive line left a good amount of space in midfield of which England were not able to take advantage as they did not have the required physical presence in those areas (which is why Rickie Lambert should have been sent straight on!).
Sturridge’s individual technique saw him play Johnson down the right; who, somewhat luckily, exploited space in Uruguay’s defense to, in one way or another, pass the ball across to Rooney to equalize.
At that point, the game was in full “action” mode and neither side was going to settle for anything BUT a win!
Sadly though for England, the fact that they still hadn’t sent in Lambert saw them continue to lack physicality up front at a time when Uruguay’s defense was most vulnerable.
Gerrard’s mistake with his backwards header lead to Uruguay's, and Suárez's, second goal; which saw the night come to a disappointing end for the English as they JUST fell short once again.
All in all, it was an extremely tactical match; with Uruguay being 100% better than what they displayed against Costa Rica as they put in a solid performance in defense and were ruthless in front of goal.
England did not do bad themselves and were undone by their lack of ideas, creativity in midfield and physical presence in the final third as they focused more on retaining the ball and trying to run the channels more often than not.
Man of the match: Luis Suárez: Showed no mercy every time he got himself in a goal-scoring position and it would be quite an understatement to say that he is Uruguay’s best hope of WC success.
Uruguay vs. England:-
On a night when the stakes were so high, the English were left to rue what never was and, perhaps, feel a tad undone by one or two key moments that could have altered the course of their WC campaign.
The game saw some changes in both teams’ formations; with Coach Roy Hodgson opting to deploy Wayne Rooney in the No. 10 role which suits him best, while also pushing Sterling to his natural right-wing position as England looked to get the most out of their players, all the while attempting to retain the balance they somewhat had against Italy.
Meanwhile, with Uruguay Captain Diego Lugano injured and LB Maxi Pereira suspended, Coach Óscar Tabárez chose to switch Martín Cáceres to the right side of defense to accommodate natural LM Álvaro Pereira in the LB role.
Moreover, in order to accommodate both of Uruguay’s main (brilliant) strikers cohesively, coach Tabárez dropped Gargano in favor of Álvaro González as he looked to play a natural diamond formation in favor of the flat 2 DM midfield line-up from the Costa Rica game. The fulcrum of said formation was Nicolás Lodeiro who offered impressive levels of dynamism and technicality in the offensive AM role.
The changes reaped wonders for both sides (more for Uruguay though) as both teams seemed more confident in their style of play than their previous games.
Uruguay spent a good amount of the first half pressing England all over the pitch; but at the same time exercising a level of caution at the back so as to avoid leaving any gaping holes either sides of the pitch.
England were a tad passive in their play and seemed out of ideas at times during the first half when they were holding onto possession.
The fact that Uruguay were effectively closing down spaces limited England’s options going forward, and they were forced to constantly shift the ball from one side to the other. Uruguay, meanwhile, were not offering much in the way of creative midfield play.
The game was very tight for the majority of the first half with many physical challenges between several players. England were rather flat in their offensive approach and were lacking that spark which Rooney was supposed to provide; mainly because he was closely and excellently being zeroed-out by Arévalo Ríos.
The first half ended shortly after Uruguay managed a quick counter-attack in which Lodeiro played Cavani through, who sent a beautiful cross behind Jagielka (remind you of the Italy game?!) for Suarez to score.
It was a very tactical game from both teams for most of the half; with Uruguay successfully closing down spaces with their compact set-up and making sure that Rooney didn’t get much freedom (although, one has to admit that they should consider themselves lucky for not being down to 10 men as Godín clearly deserved to be given his marching orders TWICE!).
England’s lack of offensive ideas and dynamic play saw them fail to properly utilize possession in the first half. In addition, they weren’t very lethal with executing set-pieces (pretty uncommon!).
The second half saw Uruguay dominate play for a while as England were struggling to get the ball out of their own half.
The English were simply not committing enough bodies forward, not being aggressive enough and also failing to create real threats in the opposition’s final third. Uruguay, on the other hand, were executing their game plan pretty well; defending in numbers and waiting for counters.
It is worth mentioning here that Uruguay’s deep defensive line left a good amount of space in midfield of which England were not able to take advantage as they did not have the required physical presence in those areas (which is why Rickie Lambert should have been sent straight on!).
Sturridge’s individual technique saw him play Johnson down the right; who, somewhat luckily, exploited space in Uruguay’s defense to, in one way or another, pass the ball across to Rooney to equalize.
At that point, the game was in full “action” mode and neither side was going to settle for anything BUT a win!
Sadly though for England, the fact that they still hadn’t sent in Lambert saw them continue to lack physicality up front at a time when Uruguay’s defense was most vulnerable.
Gerrard’s mistake with his backwards header lead to Uruguay's, and Suárez's, second goal; which saw the night come to a disappointing end for the English as they JUST fell short once again.
All in all, it was an extremely tactical match; with Uruguay being 100% better than what they displayed against Costa Rica as they put in a solid performance in defense and were ruthless in front of goal.
England did not do bad themselves and were undone by their lack of ideas, creativity in midfield and physical presence in the final third as they focused more on retaining the ball and trying to run the channels more often than not.
Man of the match: Luis Suárez: Showed no mercy every time he got himself in a goal-scoring position and it would be quite an understatement to say that he is Uruguay’s best hope of WC success.
Ahmad Al-Omar - 19. Jun, 23:51
