Uruguay national football team

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Uruguay
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) Charrúas
La Celeste Olímpica (The Olympic Sky Blue)
La Celeste (The Sky Blue)
Association Asociación Uruguaya
de Fútbol
Confederation CONMEBOL (South America)
Head coach Flag of Uruguay Oscar Tabarez
Captain Diego Lugano
Most caps Rodolfo Rodríguez (79)
Top scorer Héctor Scarone (31)
Home stadium Estadio Centenario
FIFA code URU
FIFA ranking 20
Highest FIFA ranking 12 (May 1994)
Lowest FIFA ranking 57 (December 1998)
Elo ranking 14
Highest Elo ranking 1 (various dates 1920-31)
Lowest Elo ranking 46 (March 1980)
Team colours
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Home colours
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Away colours
First international
Flag of Uruguay Uruguay 2 - 3 Argentina Flag of Argentina
(Montevideo, Uruguay; 16 May 1901)
Biggest win
Flag of Uruguay Uruguay 9 - 0 Bolivia Flag of Bolivia
(Lima, Peru; 9 November 1927)
Biggest defeat
Flag of Uruguay Uruguay 0 - 6 Argentina Flag of Argentina
(Montevideo, Uruguay; 20 July 1902)
World Cup
Appearances 10 (First in 1930)
Best result Winners, 1930 and 1950.
Copa América
Appearances 40 (First in 1916)
Best result Winners, 1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926,
1935, 1942, 1956, 1959,
1967, 1983, 1987, 1995.
Confederations Cup
Appearances 1 (First in 1997)
Best result 4th, 1997
Olympic medal record
Men’s Football
Gold 1924 Paris Team
Gold 1928 Amsterdam Team

The Uruguay national football team represents Uruguay in international football competition and is controlled by the Asociación Uruguaya de Fútbol.

As one of the most successful national football teams in the world, Uruguay have won two FIFA World Cups, including the first ever World Cup in 1930 as hosts, beating Argentina 4-2 in the final. They won their second title in 1950, upsetting hosts Brazil 2-1 in the final match. They also won the Gold Medals in football at the Summer Olympics twice, in 1924 and 1928, before the creation of the World Cup. They also won the 1980 Mundialito, a tournament among former World Cup champions Uruguay hosted in 1980 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first World Cup. Uruguay won more international titles (19) in the XX century than any other country in the world and still holds this record, albeit it is now shared with Argentina.

Their success is amplified by the fact that the nation has a very small population. Uruguay is the only country in the world to win a World Cup with a general population of under 4 million inhabitants and is by far the smallest nation to do so. The second smallest country to have won the World Cup is Argentina with a total population of over 40 million people. Uruguay is also the smallest country ever to win any World Cup medals. In fact, only six nations with populations smaller than Uruguay's have ever participated in any World Cup: Northern Ireland (3 times), Wales, Kuwait, Jamaica, Slovenia and Trinidad and Tobago. Uruguay is also the smallest nation to win Olympic gold medals in any team sport. This latter achievement might recently have been surpassed by Iceland, which lost the 2008 Olympic final in handball.

Uruguay is also the smallest member nation of CONMEBOL, South American Football Association. Nethertheless, Uruguayan national team also have won the Copa América 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina.

However, the level of the Uruguay national team has decreased lately as Uruguay has only qualified on one occasion in the last 4 World Cups, although it remains a strong team in South America, having reached third place and fourth place in the last two Copa América tournaments, respectively.

Contents

[edit] History

Prior to 1916, Uruguay played more than 30 matches, of which all but one were against Argentina. The inaugural Copa America provided Uruguay with more varied opposition. Victories over Chile and Brazil along with a tie against Argentina enabled Uruguay to win the tournament. The following year Uruguay hosted the competition, and retained the title by winning every game. The 1919 Copa America saw Uruguay's first defeat in the tournament, a 1-0 defeat in a playoff with Brazil which went to two periods of extra time, the longest Copa America match in history.

In 1924 the Uruguay team traveled to Paris to become the first South American team to compete in the Olympic Games. In contrast to the physical style of the European teams of the era, Uruguay played a style based around short passes,[1] and won every game, defeating Switzerland 3-0 in the gold medal match. In the 1928 Summer Olympics Uruguay went to Amsterdam to defend their title, again winning the gold medal after defeating Argentina 2-1 in the final.

Following the double Olympic triumph, Uruguay was chosen as the host nation for the first World Cup, held in 1930, the centenary of Uruguay's independence. During the World Cup, Uruguay won all its matches, and converted a 1-2 half-time deficit to a 4-2 victory against Argentina at the Estadio Centenario. Due to the refusal of some European teams to participate in the first World Cup, the Uruguayan Football Association urged other countries to reciprocate by boycotting the 1934 World Cup played in Italy. For the 1938 World Cup, France was chosen as host, contrary to a previous agreement to alternate the Championships between South America and Europe, so Uruguay again refused to participate.

Uruguay again won the World Cup in 1950, beating hosts Brazil in a surprise result at the Maracanã Stadium, a match known as the Maracanazo.

Since 1950, the national team has had mixed performances in the World Cup, achieving fourth place in 1954 and 1970, but failing to qualify on several occasions. A new generation headed by Francescoli emerged in the mid-1980s, which qualified for the 1986 and 1990 World Cups, reaching the second round. During the 2000s, the less successful generation of Recoba, Forlán and Montero among others qualified for the 2002 World Cup, but were unable to leave the group stage.

Nevertheless, during the same time period from the 1950s, Uruguay won the Copa America six times, most recently in 1995, when Uruguay also hosted the tournament. Each of the seven occasions when the Copa America has been hosted in Uruguay has resulted in the Uruguayan team winning the tournament.

By May 1, 2009 Uruguayan National Team are ranked by FIFA 16th in the world and 3rd in South America, below Brazil and Argentina only.

[edit] Stadium

Since 1930, Uruguay have played their home games at the Estadio Centenario in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo. The stadium was built as a celebration of Uruguay centenary of independence, and had a capacity of 100,000 when first opened. The stadium hosted several matches in the 1930 World Cup, including the final, which was watched by a crowd of 93,000.[2] Crowds for Uruguay's home matches vary greatly depending on the importance of the match and the quality of the opposition. World Cup qualifying matches often attract crowds of between 60,000 and 70,000, but friendlies sometimes have attendances significantly below 20,000.

[edit] Kit

Current Uruguay kits were adopted in 1910 as an homage to now-defunct River Plate F.C., one of the four great clubs of early Uruguayan football; the national team adopted the light blue away jerseys of the club as their home jersey. The current Uruguayan "River" club, CA River Plate not to be confused with more famous Argentine club Club Atletico River Plate, uses home and away kits similar to those of the historic club.

The first international match involving an Uruguayan team took place in Montevideo in 1889, against the "Buenos Aires Team". The "Montevideo Team", the first team to represent Uruguay, was fielded by the still-active Montevideo Cricket Club, which does not participate in football today. The first official international match was played in Montevideo in 1901; on that occasion, the Uruguayan squad wore Montevideo club Albion FC's home kit: Albion was in fact the first domestic side to win a game outside Uruguay, a 1896 match against Argentine club Retiro in Buenos Aires.

Between 1901 and 1910, Uruguay wore a variety of different shirts during matches. During games against Argentina, Uruguay would sport vertical blue and white stripes, while the Argentines would wear plain turquoise jerseys. After 1910, the two teams swapped styles, with Argentina adopting light blue and white striped shirts, and Uruguay wearing solid light blue blue shirts.

The red jersey that is used in today's away strip was first used at the 1935 Copa América, held in Santa Beatriz in Peru, which Uruguay won. It was not worn again until 1991, when it was officially adopted as the away jersey.

Four stars appear above the team logo on the jersey. Two represent Uruguay's 1930 and 1950 World Cup victories, and the other two represent the gold medals received at the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics, which at the time was the most important international football competition.

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1889 (Montevideo C.C kit)
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1901
(Albion F.C kit)

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1901 - 1910


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1901 - 1910


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1901 - 1910


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1901 - 1910


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1901 - 1910
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1910 - 1934
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1935
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1936 - 1990
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1991 - 1996
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1997–present

[edit] World Cup Record

Year Round Position GP W D* L GS GA
Flag of Uruguay 1930 Champions 1 4 4 0 0 15 3
Flag of Italy 1934 Withdrew - - - - - - -
Flag of France 1938 Withdrew - - - - - - -
Flag of Brazil 1950 Champions[3] 1 4 3 1 0 15 5
Flag of Switzerland 1954 Semi-Finals 4 5 3 0 2 16 9
Flag of Sweden 1958 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - -
Flag of Chile 1962 Round 1 13 3 1 0 2 4 6
Flag of England 1966 Quarter-finals 7 4 1 2 1 2 5
Flag of Mexico 1970 Semi-Finals 4 6 2 1 3 4 5
Flag of West Germany 1974 Round 1 13 3 0 1 2 1 6
Flag of Argentina 1978 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - -
Flag of Spain 1982 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - -
Flag of Mexico 1986 Round 2 16 4 0 2 2 2 8
Flag of Italy 1990 Round 2 16 4 1 1 2 2 5
Flag of the United States 1994 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - -
Flag of France 1998 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - -
Flag of South KoreaFlag of Japan 2002 Round 1 26 3 0 2 1 4 5
Flag of Germany 2006 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - -
Total 10/18 2 Titles 40 15 10 15 65 57
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.
**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won. Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

[edit] Copa América record

[edit] Current team status

Uruguay is currently participating in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

[edit] 2010 FIFA World Cup
Qualification Standings

Team
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Brazil 14 7 6 1 25 6 +19 27
 Chile 14 8 2 4 23 14 +9 26
 Paraguay 14 7 3 4 20 13 +7 24
 Argentina 14 6 4 4 19 15 +4 22
 Ecuador 14 5 5 4 18 20 −2 20
 Uruguay 14 4 6 4 23 16 +7 18
 Colombia 14 4 5 5 7 11 −4 17
 Venezuela 14 5 2 7 17 24 −7 17
 Bolivia 14 3 3 8 19 30 −11 12
 Peru 14 1 4 9 7 29 −22 7
  Flag of Argentina Flag of Bolivia Flag of Brazil Flag of Chile Flag of Colombia Flag of Ecuador Flag of Paraguay Flag of Peru Flag of Uruguay Flag of Venezuela
Argentina  3–0 5 Sep 2–0 1–0 1–1 1–1 10 Oct 2–1 4–0
Bolivia  6–1 10 Oct 0–2 0–0 9 Sep 4–2 3–0 2–2 0–1
Brazil  0–0 0–0 9 Sep 0–0 5–0 2–1 3–0 2–1 14 Oct
Chile  1–0 4–0 0–3 4–0 14 Oct 0–3 2–0 0–0 5 Sep
Colombia  2–1 2–0 0–0 10 Oct 5 Sep 0–1 1–0 0–1 1–0
Ecuador  2–0 3–1 1–1 1–0 0–0 1–1 5–1 10 Oct 0–1
Paraguay  9 Sep 5 Sep 2–0 0–2 14 Oct 5–1 1–0 1–0 2–0
Peru  1–1 14 Oct 1–1 1–3 1–1 1–2 0–0 5 Sep 1–0
Uruguay  14 Oct 5–0 0–4 2–2 9 Sep 0–0 2–0 6–0 1–1
Venezuela  0–2 5–3 0–4 2–3 2–0 3–1 10 Oct 9 Sep 2–2

[edit] Recent, last and next games

KEY: F = Friendly match; WCQ2010 = 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

[edit] Current players

[edit] Current squad

The following players have been called up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Brazil on June 6, 2009 in Montevideo and Venezuela on June 10, 2009 in Puerto Ordaz.

Caps and goals as of June 6, 2009.

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club
1 GK Juan Castillo 17 April 1978 (1978-04-17) (age 31) 8 0 Flag of Brazil Botafogo
12 GK Sebastián Viera 7 March 1983 (1983-03-07) (age 26) 28 0 Flag of Spain Villarreal
GK Martín Silva 25 March 1983 (1983-03-25) (age 26) 0 0 Flag of Uruguay Defensor Sporting
2 DF Diego Lugano 2 November 1980 (1980-11-02) (age 28) 34 3 Flag of Turkey Fenerbahçe
3 DF Diego Godín 16 February 1986 (1986-02-16) (age 23) 30 3 Flag of Spain Villarreal
4 DF Jorge Fucile 19 November 1984 (1984-11-19) (age 24) 33 0 Flag of Portugal Porto
8 DF Bruno Silva 29 March 1980 (1980-03-29) (age 29) 12 0 Flag of the Netherlands Ajax
16 DF Martín Cáceres 7 April 1987 (1987-04-07) (age 22) 15 0 Flag of Spain Barcelona
DF Andrés Scotti 14 December 1975 (1975-12-14) (age 33) 18 0 Flag of Argentina Argentinos Juniors
DF Maximiliano Pereira 8 June 1984 (1984-06-08) (age 25) 33 0 Flag of Portugal Benfica
DF Carlos Valdez 5 February 1983 (1983-02-05) (age 26) 3 0 Flag of Italy Reggina
5 MF Jorge Martínez 5 April 1983 (1983-04-05) (age 26) 15 0 Flag of Italy Catania
6 MF Diego Arismendi 25 January 1988 (1988-01-25) (age 21) 2 0 Flag of Uruguay Nacional
7 MF Cristian Rodríguez 30 September 1985 (1985-09-30) (age 23) 32 3 Flag of Portugal Porto
14 MF Alvaro Pereira 28 January 1985 (1985-01-28) (age 24) 6 1 Flag of Portugal Porto
15 MF Diego Pérez 18 May 1980 (1980-05-18) (age 29) 48 0 Flag of France Monaco
17 MF Miguel Amado 28 December 1984 (1984-12-28) (age 24) 1 0 Flag of Uruguay Defensor Sporting
18 MF Álvaro Fernández 11 October 1985 (1985-10-11) (age 23) 3 0 Flag of Uruguay Nacional
MF Diego de Souza 14 July 1984 (1984-07-14) (age 24) 0 0 Flag of Uruguay Defensor Sporting
MF Sebastián Eguren 8 January 1981 (1981-01-08) (age 28) 19 4 Flag of Spain Villarreal
MF Jorge Rodríguez 13 January 1985 (1985-01-13) (age 24) 1 0 Flag of Uruguay River Plate
9 FW Luis Suárez 24 January 1987 (1987-01-24) (age 22) 22 10 Flag of the Netherlands Ajax
10 FW Diego Forlán 19 May 1979 (1979-05-19) (age 30) 55 21 Flag of Spain Atlético Madrid
11 FW Edison Cavani 14 February 1987 (1987-02-14) (age 22) 7 1 Flag of Italy Palermo
13 FW Sebastián Abreu 17 October 1976 (1976-10-17) (age 32) 51 27 Flag of Greece Aris Thessaloniki

[edit] Recent Call Ups

The following players have also been called up to the Uruguay squad in the past 12 months.

Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Rodrigo Muñoz 22 January 1982 (1982-01-22) (age 27) 0 0 Flag of Uruguay Nacional v. Chile, April 1, 2009
GK Fernando Muslera 16 June 1986 (1986-06-16) (age 23) 0 0 Flag of Italy Lazio v. Paraguay, March 28, 2009 (withdrew due to injury)
GK Fabian Carini 26 December 1979 (1979-12-26) (age 29) 70 0 Flag of Spain Real Murcia v. Lybia, February 11, 2009
DF Juan Manuel Díaz 28 October 1987 (1987-10-28) (age 21) 0 0 Flag of Argentina Estudiantes v. Chile, April 1, 2009
DF Martín Rodríguez 10 February 1985 (1985-02-10) (age 24) 0 0 Flag of Uruguay Nacional v. Chile, April 1, 2009
DF Gerardo Alcoba 25 November 1984 (1984-11-25) (age 24) 2 0 Flag of Uruguay Peñarol v. Japan, August 20, 2008
DF Sebastián Ariosa 6 May 1985 (1985-05-06) (age 24) 0 0 Flag of Uruguay Defensor Sporting v. Japan, August 20, 2008
MF Juan Albín 17 July 1986 (1986-07-17) (age 22) 0 0 Flag of Spain Getafe v. Chile, April 1, 2009
MF Álvaro González 29 October 1984 (1984-10-29) (age 24) 9 0 Flag of Argentina Boca Juniors v. Chile, April 1, 2009
MF Walter Gargano 27 July 1984 (1984-07-27) (age 24) 21 0 Flag of Italy Napoli v. Lybia, February 11, 2009
MF Mathías Cardacio 2 October 1987 (1987-10-02) (age 21) 1 0 Flag of Italy Milan v. France, November 19, 2008
MF Ignacio González 1 January 1982 (1982-01-01) (age 27) 17 1 Flag of Spain Valencia v. Ecuador, September 10, 2008
FW Vicente Sánchez 7 December 1979 (1979-12-07) (age 29) 31 5 Flag of Germany Schalke 04 v. Lybia, February 11, 2009
FW Gonzalo Vargas 22 September 1981 (1981-09-22) (age 27) 8 4 Flag of Mexico Atlas v. Lybia, February 11, 2009
FW Carlos Bueno 10 May 1980 (1980-05-10) (age 29) 27 16 Flag of Uruguay Peñarol v. Bolivia, October 14, 2008
FW Javier Chevanton 12 August 1980 (1980-08-12) (age 28) 21 7 Flag of Spain Sevilla v. Argentina, October 11, 2008

[edit] Player records

[edit] Most caps

1. Rodolfo Rodríguez (79) 1976-1986

2. Enzo Francescoli (72) 1983-1997

3. Fabian Carini (70) 1999-

4. Álvaro Recoba (69) 1995-2007

5. Ángel Romano (68)

6. Pablo Gabriel García (68)

7. Carlos Aguilera (65)

8. Paolo Montero (61)

9. Jorge Barrios (61)

10. Pedro Petrone (59)

[edit] Top Goalscorers

1. Hector Scarone (31) 1917-1930

2. Ángel Romano (28)

3. Óscar Míguez (27)

4. Pedro Petrone (27)

5. Sebastián Abreu (27) 1997-

6. José Piendibene (26)

7. Carlos Aguilera (23) 1983-1997

8. Fernando Morena (22)

9. Diego Forlán (21) 2002-

10. Hector Castro (20)

[edit] World Cup Winning Captains

1st 1930 José Nasazzi 51(1)

2nd 1950 Obdulio Varela 45(9)

[edit] Coaches

[edit] Trivia

  • Uruguay and Argentina hold the record for the most international matches played between two countries.[4] The two teams have faced each other 161 times since 1901. The first match against Argentina was the first official international match to be played outside the United Kingdom and Ireland.[5]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ "Football's debt to Uruguay". BBC Sport. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/team_pages/uruguay/newsid_1907000/1907148.stm. Retrieved on 15 October 2006. 
  2. ^ FIFA World Cup Origin, FIFA Media Release. Retrieved on 16 October 2006.
  3. ^ There was no official World Cup final match in 1950. The tournament winner was decided by a final round-robin group contested by four teams (Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden, and Spain). However, Uruguay's 2-1 victory over Brazil (a match known as Maracanazo) was the decisive match (and also coincidentally one of the last two matches of the tournament) which put them ahead on points and ensured that they finished top of the group as world champions. Therefore, this match is often considered the "final" of the 1950 World Cup [1]PDF (150 KiB). Likewise, Sweden's 3-1 victory over Spain (played at the same time as Uruguay vs Brazil) ensured that they finished third.
  4. ^ Argentina-Uruguay Matches 1901-2001. RSSSF.
  5. ^ Although Canada and the United States played two internationals in 1885 and 1889, neither match is considered official; Canada did not play an official international until 1904 and the USA did not play one until 1916.

[edit] External links

[edit] Titles

Preceded by
Inaugural Champions
World Champions
1930 (First title)
Succeeded by
1934 Italy 
Preceded by
1938 Italy 
World Champions
1950 (Second title)
Succeeded by
1954 West Germany 
Preceded by
Inaugural Champions
South American Champions
1916 (First title)
1917 (Second title)
Succeeded by
1919 Brazil 
Preceded by
1919 Brazil 
South American Champions
1920 (Third title)
Succeeded by
1921 Argentina 
Preceded by
1922 Brazil 
South American Champions
1923 (Fourth title)
1924 (Fifth title)
Succeeded by
1925 Argentina 
Preceded by
1925 Argentina 
South American Champions
1926 (Sixth title)
Succeeded by
1927 Argentina 
Preceded by
1929 Argentina 
South American Champions
1935 (Seventh title)
Succeeded by
1937 Argentina 
Preceded by
1941 Argentina 
South American Champions
1942 (Eighth title)
Succeeded by
1945 Argentina 
Preceded by
1955 Argentina 
South American Champions
1956 (Ninth title)
Succeeded by
1957 Argentina 
Preceded by
1959 Argentina 
South American Champions
1959 (Tenth title)
Succeeded by
1963 Bolivia 
Preceded by
1963 Bolivia 
South American Champions
1967 (Eleventh title)
Succeeded by
1975 Peru 
Preceded by
1979 Paraguay 
South American Champions
1983 (Twelfth title)
1987 (Thirteenth title)
Succeeded by
1989 Brazil 
Preceded by
1993 Argentina 
South American Champions
1995 (Fourteenth title)
Succeeded by
1997 Brazil 
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