Uruguay national football team

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Uruguay

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	Oscar Tabarez, 2006-
Captain	Diego Lugano
Most caps	Rodolfo Rodríguez (79)
Top scorer	Héctor Scarone (31)
Home stadium	Estadio Centenario
FIFA code	URU
FIFA ranking	22
Highest FIFA ranking	14 (May 1994)
Lowest FIFA ranking	76 (December 1998)
Elo ranking	17
Highest Elo ranking	1 (various dates 1920-31)
Lowest Elo ranking	46 (March 1980)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Uruguay 2 - 3 Argentina (Montevideo, Uruguay; 16 May 1901)
Biggest win
Uruguay 9 - 0 Bolivia (Lima, Peru; 9 November 1927)
Biggest defeat
Uruguay 0 - 6 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 is controlled by the Asociación Uruguaya de Fútbol.

Uruguay is one of the most successful national football teams in the world. They 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 have also won the Copa América fourteen times, tied with Argentina, for most in America. 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. 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. The second smallest country to have won the World Cup is Argentina with a total population of over 41 million people.

Contents 1 History 2 Stadium 3 Kit 3.1 World Cup Record 4 Copa América record 5 Current team status 5.1 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification Standings 5.2 Last and next games 6 Current players 6.1 Current squad 6.2 Recent Call Ups 7 Famous players 8 Trivia 9 Footnotes 10 External links 11 Titles

[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.

[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 the now defunct River Plate F.C. (the old Uruguayan River club, although the current CA River Plate use a similar red and white striped kit at home and often a light blue away jersey too).

The first international match ever for a Uruguayan team took place in Montevideo in 1889 against "Buenos Aires Team". The "Montevideo Team",playing as the first Uruguay national representative,was the still active Montevideo Cricket Club (now only at rugby). The first official international was played again in Montevideo in 1901. In that occasion the Uruguay national team used Albion F.C kit: Albion, in fact, had won the first game outside Uruguay, over Argentinean club Retiro in 1896 at Buenos Aires. After this game, between 1901-1910, several games between Uruguay and Argentina had Uruguay wearing striped blue and white and Argentina a plain turquoise jersey, the direct opposite to the kits from 1910 to the present day. The red kit was used in all the Copa América of Santa Beatriz in Peru in 1935 where Uruguay won the tourney. After that was never used again until 1991 when it was finally adopted as away jersey.

Four stars appear above the team logo on the jersey. Two represent Uruguay's 1930 and 1950 World Cup victories whereas the other two indicate the gold medal win at the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics, considered at that time the most important national teams world-wide football competition.

1889 (Montevideo C.C kit)	1901 (Albion F.C kit)	1901 - 1910	1901 - 1910	1901 - 1910	1901 - 1910
1901 - 1910	1910 - 1990 and 1996 - 2008	1991 - 1996	1935

[edit] World Cup Record

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1930	Champions	1	4	4	0	0	15	3
1934	Withdrew	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1938	Withdrew	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1950	Champions[3]	1	4	3	1	0	15	5
1954	Semi-Finals	4	5	3	0	2	16	9
1958	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1962	Round 1	13	3	1	0	2	4	6
1966	Quarter-finals	7	4	1	2	1	2	5
1970	Semi-Finals	4	6	2	1	3	4	5
1974	Round 1	13	3	0	1	2	1	6
1978	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1986	Round 2	16	4	0	2	2	2	8
1990	Round 2	16	4	1	2	1	2	5
1994	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1998	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002	Round 1	26	3	0	2	1	4	5
2006	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	10/18	2 Titles	40	16	10	14	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

Main article: Copa América

1916 - Winners 1917 - Winners 1919 - Runners-up 1920 - Winners 1921 - Third place 1922 - Third place 1923 - Winners 1924 - Winners 1925 - Withdrew 1926 - Winners 1927 - Runners-up 1929 - Third place 1935 - Winners 1937 - Third place 1939 - Runners-up

1941 - Runners-up 1942 - Winners 1945 - Fourth place 1946 - Fourth place 1947 - Third place 1949 - Sixth place 1953 - Third place 1955 - Fourth place 1956 - Winners 1957 - Third place 1959 - Sixth place 1959 - Winners 1963 - Withdrew 1967 - Winners

1975 - Semifinals 1979 - Round 1 1983 - Winners 1987 - Winners 1989 - Runners-up 1991 - Round 1 1993 - Quarterfinals 1995 - Winners 1997 - Round 1 1999 - Runners-up 2001 - Fourth place 2004 - Third place 2007 - Fourth place

[edit] Current team status

Uruguay is currently participating in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)

[edit] 2010 FIFA World Cup
Qualification Standings

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Paraguay 8 5 2 1 16 6 +10 17  Brazil 8 3 4 1 11 4 +7 13  Argentina 8 3 4 1 11 5 +6 13  Chile 8 4 1 3 13 12 +1 13  Uruguay 8 3 3 2 16 6 +10 12  Colombia 8 2 4 2 4 7 −3 10  Ecuador 8 2 3 3 10 14 −4 9  Venezuela 8 2 1 5 9 13 −4 7  Peru 8 1 4 3 5 16 −11 7  Bolivia 8 1 2 5 8 20 −12 5   Argentina  – 3–0 R15 2–0 R13 1–1 1–1 R17 R9 R11 Bolivia  R12 – R17 0–2 0–0 R16 4–2 R9 R10 R13 Brazil  0–0 0–0 – R16 R10 5–0 R14 R12 2–1 R18 Chile  R10 R14 0–3 – 4–0 R18 0–3 2–0 R12 R15 Colombia  2–1 R11 0–0 R17 – R15 R9 R14 0–1 1–0 Ecuador  R14 3–1 R11 R9 0–0 – R12 5–1 R17 0–1 Paraguay  R16 R15 2–0 R13 R18 5–1 – R10 1–0 2–0 Peru  1–1 R18 1–1 R11 1–1 R13 0–0 – R15 1–0 Uruguay  R18 5–0 R13 2–2 R16 0–0 R11 6–0 – 1–1 Venezuela  0–2 5–3 R9 2–3 R12 R10 R17 R16 R14 –

[edit] Last and next games

• Last game:  Uruguay 0 - 0 Ecuador  - Montevideo, Uruguay - September 10, 2008 - WCQ2010.

• Next game: TBA.

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

[edit] Current players

[edit] Current squad

Below is the squad for friendly match against Japan on 20 August 2008. caps and goals as of 20 August 2008.

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Juan Castillo April 17, 1978 (1978-04-17) (age 30) 3 0 Botafogo GK Fabián Carini December 26, 1979 (1979-12-26) (age 28) 72 0 Real Murcia DF Jorge Fucile November 9, 1984 (1984-11-09) (age 23) 18 0 FC Porto 2 DF Diego Lugano November 2, 1980 (1980-11-02) (age 27) 26 1 Fenerbahçe DF Bruno Silva March 29, 1980 (1980-03-29) (age 28) 8 0 Ajax DF Carlos Adrián Valdez May 2, 1983 (1983-05-02) (age 25) Reggina DF Gerardo Alcoba November 25, 1984 (1984-11-25) (age 23) 2 0 Peñarol MF Álvaro González October 29, 1984 (1984-10-29) (age 23) Boca Juniors MF Maximiliano Pereira June 8, 1984 (1984-06-08) (age 24) 41 0 S.L. Benfica MF Diego Arismendi January 25, 1988 (1988-01-25) (age 20) 1 0 Nacional MF Jorge Rodríguez January 13, 1985 (1985-01-13) (age 23) 1 0 River Plate MF Ignacio González May 14, 1982 (1982-05-14) (age 26) Newcastle United MF Sebastián Eguren January 8, 1981 (1981-01-08) (age 27) 13 2 Villarreal MF Diego Pérez May 18, 1980 (1980-05-18) (age 28) AS Monaco FC 7 MF Cristian Rodríguez September 30, 1985 (1985-09-30) (age 22) 24 3 FC Porto FW Carlos Bueno May 10, 1980 (1980-05-10) (age 28) 24 14 Peñarol 9 FW Luis Suárez January 24, 1987 (1987-01-24) (age 21) 12 6 Ajax FW Vicente Sánchez December 7, 1979 (1979-12-07) (age 28) Schalke 04 13 FW Sebastián Abreu October 17, 1976 (1976-10-17) (age 31) 44 27 Beitar Jerusalem F.C.

[edit] Recent Call Ups

The following players have also been called up to the Uruguay squad after Copa America.

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club 3 DF Diego Godín February 16, 1986 (1986-02-16) (age 22) 22 3 Villarreal (WCQ v. Peru, 17 June 2008) 4 DF Martín Cáceres March 17, 1987 (1987-03-17) (age 21) 5 0 Barcelona (WCQ v. Peru, 17 June 2008) 6 DF Andrés Scotti December 14, 1975 (1975-12-14) (age 32) Argentinos Juniors (WCQ v. Peru, 17 June 2008) DF Damián Suárez April 27, 1988 (1988-04-27) (age 20) 0 0 Defensor Sporting (Friendly v. Norway, 28 May 2008) 34 DF Carlos Diogo July 18, 1983 (1983-07-18) (age 25) Zaragoza (Copa America) 35 DF Darío Rodríguez September 17, 1974 (1974-09-17) (age 33) Peñarol (Copa America) 5 MF Walter Gargano July 27, 1984 (1984-07-27) (age 24) Napoli (WCQ v. Peru, 17 June 2008 ) MF Robert Flores May 13, 1986 (1986-05-13) (age 22) 2 0 River Plate (Friendly v. Norway, 28 May 2008) MF Diego De Souza July 14, 1984 (1984-07-14) (age 24) 0 0 Defensor Sporting (Friendly v. Colombia, 6 February 2008) 31 MF Egidio Arévalo January 1, 1982 (1982-01-01) (age 26) Monterrey (WCQ v. Brazil, December 2007) 32 MF Pablo García May 11, 1977 (1977-05-11) (age 31) 66 2 PAOK F.C. (WCQ v. Paraguay, October 2007) 33 MF Mario Regueiro September 9, 1978 (1978-09-09) (age 30) Aris FC (WCQ v. Paraguay, October 2007) 36 MF Fabián Canobbio March 8, 1980 (1980-03-08) (age 28) Real Valladolid (Copa America) 10 FW Diego Forlán May 19, 1979 (1979-05-19) (age 29) 46 16 Atletico Madrid (WCQ v. Peru, 17 June 2008) FW Sebastián Fernández May 23, 1985 (1985-05-23) (age 23) 3 0 Banfield (v. Friendly v. Norway, 28 May 2008) FW Henry Giménez March 13, 1986 (1986-03-13) (age 22) 2 0 River Plate (Friendly v. Norway, 28 May 2008) FW Edison Cavani February 14, 1987 (1987-02-14) (age 21) 2 1 Palermo (Friendly v. Norway, 28 May 2008) FW Álvaro Recoba March 17, 1976 (1976-03-17) (age 32) 69 11 Panionios F.C. (Copa America)

[edit] Famous players

Hugo de León Carlos Aguilera José Leandro Andrade Víctor Rodríguez Andrade Pablo Bengoechea Carlos Bueno Martín Cáceres Julio Montero Castillo Luís Alberto Cubilla Víctor Espárrago Daniel Fonseca Diego Forlán Javier Chevantón Enzo Francescoli Diego Lugano Ladislao Mazurkiewicz

Paolo Montero José Nasazzi Omar Oscar Míguez Santiago Ostolaza Rubén Paz Álvaro Recoba Ángel Romano José Santamaría Héctor Scarone Juan Alberto Schiaffino Rubén Sosa Obdulio Varela Darío Silva Marcelo Saralegui Gianni Guigou

Venancio Ramos Víctor Hugo Diogo Darío Pereyra Roberto Matosas Pedro Virgilio Rocha Fernando Álvez Oscar Miguez Alcides Ghiggia Pedro Petrone Gustavo Poyet Antonio Alzamendi José Batlle Perdomo William Castro Fernando Kanapkis

[edit] Trivia

• Uruguay and Argentina hold the record for the most international matches played between two countries.^{[citations needed]} 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.^[4]

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• RSSSF archive of results 1902-
• The Official Uruguay football association website

[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

International football v • d • e
FIFA | World Cup | Confederations Cup | U-20 World Cup | U-17 World Cup  Olympics | Asian Games | All-Africa Games | Pan American Games | Island Games | Minor Tournaments World Rankings | Player of the Year | Teams | Competitions | Organizations | Codes
Asia: AFC - Asian Cup      Africa: CAF - Africa Cup of Nations      North America: CONCACAF - Gold Cup      South America: CONMEBOL - Copa América      Oceania: OFC - Nations Cup      Europe: UEFA - European Championship      Non-FIFA: NF-Board - Viva World Cup
National football teams of South America (CONMEBOL) v • d • e
Argentina | Bolivia | Brazil | Chile | Colombia | Ecuador | Paraguay | Peru | Uruguay | Venezuela |
FIFA World Cup Winners v • d • e
5 titles: Brazil (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 & 2002) 4 titles: Italy (1934, 1938, 1982 & 2006) 3 titles: Germany (1954, 1974 & 1990) 2 titles: Uruguay (1930 & 1950) • Argentina (1978 & 1986) 1 title: England (1966) • France (1998)