When he was first spotted using a mobility scooter last summer as Uruguay were in training ahead of their participation in the Copa America Centenario in the United States, rumours abounded about the state of Oscar Tabarez’s health.
When asked to confirm reports that he was suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks part of the nervous system, he told everyone to mind their own business.
Would he be stepping down from his position as manager of Uruguay? He deemed the question to be an insult. No, he would most certainly not.
The indomitable Tabarez, then, is now in to his 11th year in charge of Uruguay, adding to an earlier spell between 1988 and 1990 when he was at the helm. Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, the national side’s current marquee names, have never played under any other international manager – they were both still teenagers, yet to move to Europe, when Tabarez was reappointed in 2006.
And since then the other South American nations have had over 50 managers between them. Stability, then.
The 70-year-old has struggled at times with his condition, which he acknowledged was a form of “chronic neuropathy”, conceding that “there are some days where I can move on my own, some others no”.
But, he insisted, “nothing changes with my job, or dealing with players. I will continue [as Uruguay coach] – at least until the results say otherwise”.
And the results had been going just fine in Uruguay’s World Cup qualifying campaign until the wobbles set in in their last three games, consecutive defeats to Chile, Brazil and Peru leaving them scrambling for one of the three remaining automatic qualifying slots (Brazil are already through) with four games to go. They’re a point behind second-placed Colombia, level with Chile, one ahead of Argentina and three clear of Ecuador.
This trip to Dublin, then, followed by their game against Italy in Nice next Wednesday, acts as more than a gentle summer kickabout, Tabarez has some fine-tuning to do ahead of their critical meeting with Argentina at the end of August.
Three defeats
After conceding seven goals in those last three defeats, it’s the defence that needs most attention, the combination up front of Barcelona’s Suarez and Paris Saint-Germain’s Cavani meaning goals at the other end are rarely hard to find. They have 12 between them in the campaign so far, although the bulk of them belong to Cavani, with Suarez missing a couple of games through suspension.
He’ll also be missing from the both the Irish and Italian games through injury, as will captain Diego Godin, the brilliant Atletico Madrid defender. His absence could give Martin Caceres some badly needed game time after a miserable spell at Southampton where injury reduced him to a single game all season.
Caceres is now a free agent and supposedly attracting the interest of Celtic, Leicester, Watford and Leeds. When he played for Uruguay on their last visit to Dublin, a 3-2 victory over Giovanni Trapattoni’s side back in 2011, he was a Barcelona player, going on to have loan spells at Juventus and Seville, so the 30-year-old has some career-rebuilding to do.
The same could be said for Suarez and Cavani’s understudies, strikers Abel Hernandez (ruled out of the current squad through injury) and Christian Stuani both having endured relegation with Hull City and Middlesbrough, respectively, this season, scoring eight league goals between them.
Bordeaux, meanwhile, are currently trying to offload their Uruguayan striker Diego Rolan, but have yet to receive any offers.
Their club woes underline the relatively shallow pool Tabarez has to choose from once he loses any of his key men, his side also top-heavy with players in their 30s, including midfielder Arevalo Ríos who is now 35.
Alongside him, though, is one of the team’s brighter hopes, 24-year-old Genoa midfielder Diego Laxalt – one of the lengthy list of players linked with a move to Chelsea this summer.
When Tabarez has his full complement of first-choice players available though, including Galatasaray goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, Porto’s Max Pereira, Sporting Lisbon’s Sebastián Coates and José María Giménez of Atlético de Madrid, all of whom are in the squad for Dublin, alongside Suarez, Cavani and Godin, they remain a formidable force.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS
1974 – Montevideo: Uruguay 2 Rep of Ireland 0.
This was the second match of three played by the John Giles-managed team on a South American tour made controversial by the inclusion of a game against Chile, Ireland becoming the first international side to visit the country since the General Pinochet-led coup the previous year.
A 2-1 win in Santiago proved to be their only success of the tour – they lost 2-1 to Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, before goals from Fernando Morena in the 16th and 26th minutes gave Uruguay a 2-0 victory in Montevideo.
Rep of Ireland: Mick Kearns, Joe Kinnear, Paddy Mulligan, Terry Mancini, Tony Dunne, Eoin Hand, John Giles, Mick Martin, Jimmy Conway, Terry Conroy, Don Givens. Sub: Gerry Daly. Manager: John Giles.
1986 – Dublin: Rep of Ireland 1 Uruguay 1.
This was just the second game of the Jack Charlton era, Ireland having lost to Wales the previous month in his opener. After Ruben Paz had given the visitors the lead from a free-kick that Mick McCarthy deflected past Packie Bonner, Gerry Daly equalised from a penalty before half-time. It was Daly’s last game for Ireland, signing out by getting the first goal of the Charlton years.
Rep of Ireland: Packie Bonner, Dave Langan, Mick McCarthy, Barry Murphy, Chris Hughton, Ray Houghton, Gerry Daly, Liam O'Brien, Tony Galvin, Frank Stapleton, John Aldridge. Subs: John Byrne, Peter Eccles. Manager: Jack Charlton
2011 – Dublin: Rep of Ireland 2 Uruguay 3.
Against a Uruguayan side that had reached the World Cup semi-finals the previous summer, and had Diego Forlan and Edinson Cavani up front, Giovanni Trapattoni’s inexperienced team put up a decent enough showing, Shane Long and Keith Fahey scoring in a 3-2 defeat. Of the Irish starters that day, only Keiren Westwood is in the squad for Sunday’s game. Stephen Kelly, who captained his country for the first time in the match, is currently without a club having been released by Rotherham.
Rep of Ireland: Keiren Westwood, Kevin Foley, Darren O'Dea, Stephen Kelly, Ciaran Clark, Liam Lawrence, Paul Green, Keith Fahey, Andy Keogh, James McCarthy, Shane Long. Subs: Damien Delaney, Aiden McGeady, Darron Gibson, Anthony Stokes, Keith Treacy. Manager: Giovanni Trapattoni.
