Uruguay are out of the World Cup again. for all that it ended in anger, a red card and a touchline row, it is nobody’s fault but their own. “3 million dreams,” the banner said high in the stand in Guadalajara but this was a recurring nightmare. Divided. dysfunctional, led by a man who barely even says buenos dias to his players, unable to get beyond a draw with Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde, on the night when it was all or nothing against Spain they could only manage two shots on target, neither of which came before the 80th minute or carried even the slightest threat.
Spain meanwhile had only one, and that didn’t carry much of a threat either. But a dreadful mistake from 40-year-old goalkeeper Fernando Muslera allowed Álex Baena’s shot to slip into the net just before the half-time break. Uruguay fought but didn’t play much football and so they fell. For the second World Cup running they failed to get through the group. if four years ago that was on goals scored and could be explained by the teams they faced – South Korea, Ghana and Portugal – this time the opponents only made it worse, demanding a far deeper analysis.
“It’s my responsibility; we had a potential. I didn’t manage to turn into a team that played to its level,” Marcelo Bielsa said. Muslera had asked to be withdrawn at half-time, his fourth World Cup ending early,. the guilt was all of theirs. On the hour Federico Valverde too was withdrawn, this time against his will,. departed with his shirt pulled over his mouth as he offered his own furious opinion on a brief and disastrous World Cup campaign. As the final moments played out here. Guadalajara sang the name of the country that had beaten them to the next round: no, not Spain; Cape Verde.
When it came to it, Uruguay had kicked and that was about it. Spain had just about survived them, although Nico Williams left limping. Yéremy Pino departed with his arm in a sling. Through it all they had largely kept a cool head,. gone through as they were always going to, which was about the best thing that could be said about a night in which not much that was good really happened. They will face Algeria or Austria in Los Angeles. “Maybe they used excessive [force] but that is what the referees are there for. You have to know how to play these kids of games too; the players understood the circumstances,” Luis de la Fuente said.
Uruguay had made life difficult for Spain in a first half in which they appeared uncomfortable. in second in which they just wanted to get through it. Mistakes had slipped in early but not cost them: Unai Simón dropped a cross. Baena’s misplaced pass almost allowed Manuel Ugarte to play in Valverde. Those were encouraging signs for Uruguay and they grew, albeit driven more by aggression than inspiration. Darwin Núñez’s back-heel ran across the front of the six-yard box. Núñez escaped Marc Cucurella and saw his cross cut out. Simon dropped the ball at Agustín Canobbio’s feet. the winger couldn’t find a way past the bodies in the area. Then Ugarte stuck over from 25 yards.
If there was momentum, though, there was very little real quality. And then it happened again. The goal that settled this in the 42nd-minute was awful in every way: another calamitous. self-inflicted Uruguayan wound in a World Cup that had has many of them.
The move started with Ugarte going down as he tried to rob Pedri. Teammates called for Spain to stop, but there was no obligation to do so. no will either – still less as this had already become a tough, physical game – so they continued, working it to Lamine Yamal. When he too went down, Marcos Llorente was fastest, hurdling a challenge and pulling a cross back for Baena. The shot, first time on the turn, shouldn’t have caused Muslera too much difficulty but the goalkeeper, who retired in April 2024 only to come back again. whose prints are on Uruguay’s most self-destructive moments this summer, watched it bounce over his hands into the net.
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Muslera didn’t come back out for the second half. surely his last moment with the national team a sad, humiliating one. Nor did Ugarte, who was carried off injured. It was hard to avoid feeling that Uruguay’s hopes went with him if only because of the absurd fatalism of how it had all happened again, something cruel in the way they had conceded here. in both games in Miami too. This was a picture of their tournament, the whole sorry mess.
Uruguay tried to go at Spain, but their limitations remained and time escaped. They couldn’t muster a shot on target until Mathías Olivera on 83 minutes. it wasn’t even clear that was a shot at all. When Nicolás de la Cruz added a second two minutes later it was from 30 yards and easily saved. Besides, almost immediately after, Ferran Torres got in, one on one, only to hit the bar. Spain’s count, then, remained one but it was enough.
All that was left for Uruguay was to get the red card that could have come sooner when Canobbio launched into another wild lunge just after De la Cruz had whacked Williams. an hour of hunting season on Yamal. At the side of the pitch, the confrontations began but the game. Uruguay’s World Cup was as good as over, Bielsa sitting on a light blue box and watching it end.
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