Suarez fires Uruguay into the knockouts as boss

OSCAR Tabarez has seen it all, and achieved even more throughout a glittering 38-year coaching career, but steering Uruguay, a nation of less than three and a half million people, to three successive knockout rounds at the World Cup, this time with a game to spare, has to rank with the best of them.

It was not all that pretty in stifling conditions in Rostov-onDon. Luis Suarez, making his 100th appearance for Uruguay, marked the landmark with a simple goal to open the scoring, with more than a helping hand from Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Mohammed Alowais.

Up against far inferior opponents, Uruguay saw out the 1-0 win in second gear and, as Tabarez always does, got the job done. Egypt’s defeat to Russia means they and the Saudis cannot catch Uruguay now, so it is winner takes top spot in Group A when Russia and Uruguay face off in Samara on Monday.

In the four World Cups he has overseen, Tabarez has now steered Uruguay to at least the last 16, the first being at Italia ’90, during his first stint as coach.

Tabarez has revolutionised Uruguayan football, from youth development through to the senior side. El Maestro, as he is affectionately known, suffers from the rare debilitating Guillain-Barre syndrome, meaning he cannot walk unaided, but nothing can keep this inspirational figure down.

What Saudi Arabia would do for anything like Uruguay’s continuity. Juan Antonio Pizzi is the Saudi’s fourth coach in under a year, and he has brought very little improvement.

They did manage to shore things up after the disastrous 5-0 defeat in the curtain-raiser in Moscow last week, and they had chances in Rostov, with Hatan Bahbri missing the most gilt-