Uruguay visits South Korea, who eliminated it in the World Cup in Qatar

the renewed selection of uruguay Closes, this Tuesday, at 8 am (Brasília time), at the Goyang stadium, its Asian mini tour with a visit to South Korea, an old acquaintance from World Cups that eliminated it in the group stage of Qatar-2022.

Celeste’s interim coach, Marcelo Broli, will continue to test youngsters who shine in leagues around the world, some of them making their first appearances for the national team.

How it happened in front of Japan last Friday in Tokyo, the coach will not be able to count on the main highlights of Uruguayan football in recent years, such as Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani, nor on some of the new stars of the selection such as Giorgian de Arrascaeta, Darwin Núñez and Rodrigo Bentancur.

Broli, coach of the Uruguayan under-20 national team, South American runners-up in Colombia, who qualified for the Indonesian World Cup in May/June, likes offensive, well-played football.

In the 1-1 draw with the Japanese, Celeste focused on Federico Valverde, the midfielder who stands out in the Real Madridwho had more freedom of action and played in a much more offensive position than the one he occupied in the Qatar Cup.

The Uruguayan sports press highlighted this detail as one of Broli’s contributions to the start, this year, of the South American Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

Another positive novelty was the debut of defender Santiago Bueno, a current Girona player, with the prospect of preparing substitutes for veteran Diego Godín.

But it is virtually certain that Broli will not be in charge of the Uruguayans to be able to materialize these contributions because this Tuesday his brief spell as interim should come to an end and Diego Alonso, who led Celeste in the final stretch of the South American Qualifiers and in the FIFA World Cup Qatar-2022, will return to the bank.

revenge

That Cup was not exactly a good experience for the Uruguayans and especially for Alonso: with a team that had high-level players and that aspired to great things, they were eliminated right away in the group stage.

His tormentor ended up being precisely his opponent this Tuesday, who advanced to the round of 16 thanks to a goal difference superior to that of Uruguay.

Now commanded by former German star Jurgen Klinsmann, the Asians are also going through a renewal process. Last Friday, South Korea drew 2-2 with another South American team, Colombiaafter opening a 2-0 lead at the end of the first half.

Uruguayans and South Koreans have faced each other nine times, three at World Cups and six in friendlies. Celeste has a clear advantage, but always with small differences on the scoreboard: it is undefeated in World Cups, with two wins (1-0 in Italy-1990 and 2-1 in South Africa-2010) and a draw (0- 0 in Qatar-2022).

In friendlies, the Uruguayans won five. The last one, in 2018, was so far the only one in which the Asians won 2-1. In total, the two-time world champions scored 10 goals (three in World Cups) and the South Koreans five (one in Cups).

In the Fifa ranking, Uruguay occupies the 16th position and South Korea, the 25th.

Probable lineups:

South Korea: Kim Seung-gyu – Kim Moon-hwan, Kim Min-jae, Kim Young-gwon, Kim Jin-su; Hwang In-beom, Jeong Woo-yeong Lee Kang-in, Jung Woo-young; Son Heung-min, Oh Hyeon-gyu. Técnico: Jurgen Klinsmann.

Uruguay: Sergio Rochet – Giovanni Gonzalez, Sebastian Coates, James Good, Matthias Olivera; Manuel Ugarte, Federico Valverde, Matthias Vecino; Facundo Pellistri, Maximilian Gomez, Diego Rossi. Coach: Marcelo Broli.