OSCAR TABAREZ was just three years old when his country won the second of its two World Cup crowns by stunning Brazil at the Maracana in 1950 but he quietly draws on that success as evidence of a great Uruguayan footballing tradition he believes can be revitalised by a win over Ghana this evening.
Such a success would put the South Americans into the semi-finals for the first time in 40 years but the quietly-spoken “professor” (he had a secondary school after his modest playing career ended) sees the potential in this team to put Uruguay back at the top table of the game.
“Sure, a victory against Ghana would make one of the great stories of this World Cup,” he said at last night’s press conference in Soccer City when asked if Uruguay could become “the Bulgaria or Croatia” of 2010, “but we are not like the others. We have a great tradition in the game, it is important to everybody. And even if we have not had success at a major tournament in 40 years, we have never lacked ambition to fulfil our footballing culture.”
A deeply political man who admires Che Guevara and has been known to enter into long philosophical discussion with those who have sought his views on the game, Tabarez is well aware of the significance of tonight’s tie to Ghana.
That Ghana have come to represent the hopes of all Africa in this tournament is not lost on him and he acknowledged Milovan Rajevac’s side may have more obvious sources of inspiration available than the heroics of teams whose stories have taken on a slight air of legend by now.
No African side has ever made it to the semi-finals and the determination of the Ghana players to make history against the team that did most to destroy the host country’s hopes of surviving the group stages was obvious last night. The twice champions will start strong favourites, with the form of Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez up front a major concern for the Serbia coach whose defence has had just one clean sheet in four games.
Both coaches are obliged to make changes to the sides that secured wins in the first knockout round. Along with a number of injury concerns, Rajavec has Dede Ayew and Jonathan Mensah suspended and so Sulley Muntari is likely to come into the left side of midfield, with Isaac Vorsah’s return from injury likely to mean the restoration of the back four that kept the Serbs at bay in the team’s opening game.
Tabarez is without injured defender Diego Godin, who is replaced by Mauricio Victorino, the who did well after coming on against South Korea. Alvaro Pereira is also out and his place is taken by Alvaro Fernandez. “We are excited by the opportunity we have,” says the coach. “It would be a dream to be back at this grandiose stadium for the final. But . . . we do not want to put the cart before the horse.”
LINE-UPS
GHANA(probable): Kingson; Paintsil, John Mensah, Vorsah, Sarpei; Annan; Inkoom, Boateng, Muntari; Gyan.
URUGUAY: Muslera; M Pareira, Lugano, Victorino, Fucile; Arevalo, Perez, Fernandez; Forlan; Cavani, Suarez.
