This Saturday, Uruguay and the Basque Country drew 1-1 in a friendly held at the San Mamรฉs stadium, in Bilbao, Spain. The goals of the game were scored by Djalรณ, for the Basques, and Vecino, for the South Americans.
โน๏ธ ๐๐๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐@EFF_FVF 1-1 @Uruguay
๐ International Friendly
๐บ https://t.co/l3PMoeWV5O#ElEquipoQueNosUne pic.twitter.com/l4v84wDBH6
โ Uruguayan National Team (@Uruguay) March 23, 2024
Coach Marcelo Bielsa carried out some tests on the team, and the Uruguayan team played with an alternative formation. Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde and Barcelona defender Ronald Araรบjo, for example, were left out.
This is the Basque team’s first game after four years. Before the confrontation with Uruguay, the last match had been against Costa Rica, in December 2020, when they won 2-1. The Basque Country is an autonomous community located in a region belonging to Spain and with part of its territory in France. The team is not authorized to play official games and can only play friendly matches.
Uruguay takes the field again next Tuesday, at 4:30 pm (Brasรญlia time), against Ivory Coast, in Lens, France. The Basque team, in turn, does not have any matches scheduled.
The game
The Basque Country started the match better and scored in the 24th minute of the first half, but the goal was disallowed. After goalkeeper Israel saved a shot at the edge of the area, รlex Sola took advantage of the rebound and found the net, but was in an offside position.
Uruguay also had a goal disallowed for offside in the first half. In the 39th minute, the team led by Bielsa took a corner on the left, the ball deflected into the small area and Luciano Rodrรญguez took the touch to score, but was ahead of the markers.
At the end of the first half, in the 44th minute, the Basque Country opened the scoring. Striker Djalรณ received the ball in the area, protected the ball and finished in the right corner to score the first goal of the game.
With just 15 seconds of the final stage, Uruguay tied the match. Varela, Flamengo’s right-back, crossed into the area, the Basque defense was unable to clear it and Vecino shot into the left corner to find the net.
For the remainder of the game, both teams created chances but failed to score. Thus, the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
Source: Gazetaesportiva

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