The first real super power in the beautiful game's history was not Brazil, Germany, Italy or Argentina, it was Uruguay. Dating back to 1916, when Uruguay started playing opposition not named Argentina, they dominated the game. That was the first year they took part in a major tournament, and they won it. It was the first edition of the Copa America, held in rival Argentina just like the recently concluded tournament. The second Copa America showed even more of Uruguay's dominance in the early years, they again won it all, this time without losing or drawing a game or conceding a goal. They had played two tournaments and won both, this would not be the last time that they achieved this feat. Uruguay would finally lose a match at the tournament in its third edition but even then it was the final and the game's only goal came after 122 minutes.
Having established themselves in South America, Uruguay took their act international, becoming the first South American team to compete in the Olympics in 1924 in Paris. It was unchartered territory for the team, having only played South American opposition in their history to this point. It didn't matter however as Uruguay won the tournament without losing a match, beating Switzerland in the gold medal match. Four years later Uruguay again headed to Europe to defend their Olympic title, this time in Amsterdam. In the final they met a familiar foe, Argentina, but just as they had done in the Copa America a decade before they won the tournament for the second time, in their second appearance. Uruguay had now made their mark on the world, so much that they were chosen to host a new tournament, the World Cup.
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| Uruguay 1930 team photo |
Uruguay had now made their mark on the early history of the Copa America and travelled to Europe twice and won the Olympic tournament. So they were understandably upset when only four European nations made the trip to their nation to participate in the first World Cup. As they had done with the Copa America and Olympic tournaments, they again won a tournament in their first appearance. They won every game and again faced Argentina in the final. They boycotted the 1934 World Cup in Italy to repay the European nations for not making the trip to South America in 1930. The 1938 World Cup in France was also boycotted by Uruguay, this time because a previous agreement to alternate World Cups between continents had been ignored. World War II followed soon after, so Uruguay had to wait until 1950 to see if they could make it 2 for 2 in the World Cup.
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| Uruguay scores in the 1950 final |
Uruguay won the1950 World Cup, once again without losing a game. They defeated Brazil in the final at the Maracana in what was considered an upset. Regardless, Uruguay had managed to win another tournament in their first two appearances and were clearly a force when it came to international tournament football. They participated at the 1954 World Cup and lost for the first time ever in the Semi Finals versus a Hungarian team that hadn't lost in years. At the end of regulation the score was tied at 2, the Hungarians added on after the 110th minute. Uruguay won their 9th Copa America title two years later but a 5-0 loss to Paraguay prevented them from qualifying for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. By 1970 they had won 11 Copa America titles and managed a 4th place finish in the World Cup that year, but their dominance over the rest of the world was a thing of the past and the next 40 years was filled with a lot of inconsistant play.
After 1970, Uruguay fell into mediocrity, they qualified for the World Cup every once in a while and when they did they did nothing of notice. The little nation had fallen off as one of the world's super powers and was replaced by Brazil, Germany, Italy and their rival Argentina. As the turn of the century came and passed, Uruguay were barely featured in the world's biggest tournament. A poor showing at the 2002 World Cup was followed by failure to qualify for the 2006 tournament. Then came 2010, a new generation of players and an emergence.
The first round put them in what appeared to be a tough group. They would have to play the hosts, South Africa, a tough Mexican team and 2006 finalist, France. Surprisingly to football purists, Uruguay won the group. They then beat South Korea in the round of 16 putting them in the Quarter Finals. This was further than many had expected the team to make it and it would have been satisfactory. Four South American nations had made it to the stage in all, more than we were accustomed to. Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina were still present. Argentina were then dismantled by Germany, Brazil lost their cool versus the Netherlands and Paraguay blew their chances against Spain. Uruguay however battled Africa's last hope, Ghana, in one of the tournaments most memorable games. The match went to penalties, albeit by some Uruguayan luck, with Ghana missing a penalty in the 120th minute. Uruguay won the shootout and made it to the semi finals, for the first time in 40 years.
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| Diego Forlan |
One man could be given the credit for Uruguay's shock performance at the World Cup, Diego Forlan. He wasn't exactly one of the new generation, having played at the 2002 World Cup, but his performance at the 2010 World Cup was the stuff of legend. Even though Uruguay lost to the Netherlands in the semi finals, Forlan managed to score in both that game and the 3rd place playoff. He was awarded goal of the tournament by FIFA, even though any of his 5 could have been given that honor. He was also awarded the FIFA Golden Ball, given to the tournament's best player overall, quite an honor.
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| Walter Gargano |
Uruguay had finished 4th in the World for the first time since 1970 and there was no feeling of a fluke involved, tough players like Walter Gargano, Diego Perez and Eguren showed quality. Up front Forlan had looked like the world's best but Luis Suarez had emerged as a star and also had a good world cup himself. Muslera in goal turned out to be a very valuable goalkeeper and role players in midfield like Alvaro Pereira emerged in the 2010 World Cup and proved to be as good as advertised. Uruguay had not only finished in their highest position since 1970, they were the highest placing South American team, outranking Argentina and Brazil as well as Paraguay.
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| Alvaro Pereira |
One year later and we are one year removed from the World Cup. One of the most exciting Copa America tournaments in recent memory has just concluded, and Uruguay are the winner. The sleeping giant has emerged, the Copa America title, their first in 16 years, was their record 15th. In all they have won more major titles than any other nation in the world and for the second year in a row have outdone Brazil and Argentina. They now play the beautiful game as well as anyone in the world. Winning the Copa America in Argentina is nothing new for them, but even after the World Cup performance last year not many would have bet on them to win it all. Led by Forlan they have a core of players young enough to continue performing at this level. Players like Caceres in defense have their careers ahead of them, and once Forlan has retired young forwards Luis Suarez and Edinson "El Matador" Cavani look more than capable of carrying on upfront for the next decade. With the next World Cup on South American soil in 3 years, and the Confederations Cup preceeding it, Uruguay are in perfect position to make another strong run in a tournament. The rest of the world better take notice, because the sleeping giants from the tiny nation are back!
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| El Matador Cavani |
