URUGUAY AND SUAREZ ARE STARTING TO CLICK
HIS last two World Cups ended in disgrace and, where Luis Suarez is concerned, you should never rule out the chance of a hat-trick. Exactly how he might follow his deliberate handball in South Africa and his bite on Giorgio Chiellini in Brazil is anyone’s guess at this stage.
Or, perhaps, at the age of 31, it is time to focus on what he does best.
He certainly did that in Samara yesterday, inspiring Uruguay to their best display of the tournament. With it, they brought the hosts down to earth with a bump in the city where Russia’s space programme is based — and duly clinched top spot in Group A.
They looked like a team starting to find their rhythm and they crushed the home crowd.
‘In the first few matches, you are tense,’ said Suarez. ‘You don’t want to lose and one mistake can be very expensive. Here, we had a different attitude and perspective and that made it better.’
Suarez struck with a free-kick after ten minutes and Uruguay stretched their lead with an own goal by Denis Cheryshev.
Edinson Cavani added the third in the final seconds and became the second Uruguayan to score in three World Cups.
The first was Suarez. Russia played for almost an hour with ten men after Igor Smolnikov collected two yellow cards in nine first-half minutes. The full-back will now miss their last-16 tie on Sunday and his boss Stanislav Cherchesov kicked the water bucket in frustration.
As runners-up in the group, they may find solace in a return to the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, where they beat Saudi Arabia 5-0. Uruguay will go to Sochi in good shape, growing into the competition. They are yet to concede and have a pleasing balance to the team.
‘Balance is the Holy Grail of football,’ said boss Oscar Tabarez. ‘Whatever happens, we have solutions for that specific problem.
‘Russia did not push us around. They tried to put us into a corner. Not only did we prevent them from doing that, but we put them in their half of the pitch.
‘We could have won by even more goals. We did not manage to score on certain counter-attacks that we should have.
‘Sometimes, the timing wasn’t perfect. We need to improve very quickly, because any match in the round of 16 will be very difficult.
‘The result and to be top of our group pleased me most. We won by a wide margin, but I like the fact that we didn’t concede.
‘I also liked the dedication and concentration that my team had. They were very focused, the entire squad. They executed the plan that we worked towards.’
In Suarez and Cavani, Uruguay have real firepower, with Rodrigo Bentancur of Juventus also impressing at the tip of a midfield diamond against the Russians.
Arsenal target Lucas Torreira dictated play with style and vision deep in midfield, with Matias Vecino and Nahitan Nandez impressive on either side. Vecino of Inter Milan is among those admired by Maurizio Sarri and on a list of Italian-based players he would like to follow him to Chelsea. Diego Laxalt caught the eye with his adventure at left-back.
Russia started badly and continued in careless fashion until the game was beyond their reach.
Suarez struck early and Cheryshev diverted Laxalt’s drive into his own net before the Russian was sacrificed to bolster the defence in the absence of Smolnikov.
Russia improved with ten men and produced a spirited second-half display. Igor Akinfeev made a great save from Cristian Rodriguez and another to deny Diego Godin from the corner which followed. He could not stop Paris SaintGermain’s Cavani pouncing on the rebound to score his first of the tournament and the Russian crowd groaned.
How quickly moods shift as Uruguay and their star strikers start to move with menace.
URUGUAY (4-3-1-2): Muslera 6.5; Caceres 6, Coates 6, Godin 7, Laxalt 7.5; Nandez 7 (Rodriguez 73min, 6.5), Torreira 8, Vecino 6.5; Bentancur 7 (De Arrascaeta 63, 6); Suarez 7, Cavani 7 (Gomez 90). Cavani. Booked: Bentancur. Manager: Oscar Tabarez 7.
RUSSIA (4-2-3-1): Akinfeev 6; Smolnikov 4, Kutepov 5, Ignashevich 5, Kudriashov 6; Gazinsky 5, Zobnin 6; Samedov 5, Miranchuk 5 (Smolov 60, 6), Cheryshev 6 (Fernandes 38, 6.5); Dzyuba 6. Booked: Gazinsky, Smolnikov. Sent off: Smolnikov.
Manager: Stanislav Cherchesov 6. Referee: Malang Diedhiou (Senegal) 6.
Attendance: 41,970.