Uruguay are Cup’s most impressive side and their system is something Ireland can learn from
ENGLAND might sing about football coming home but if Uruguay can somehow prevail in Russia, they could reasonably argue that the World Cup would be going back to base.
They face a challenge to get past France today and the battle to be crowned as the best team in the competition might be beyond them. But with a population of just 3.4 million people, the South Americans have to be considered the strongest nation left in the tournament in terms of their return relative to their size.
The historical pedigree is there. As the first winners in 1930, who duly followed up 20 years later, it is impossible to write the story of the World Cup without giving Uruguay prominent reference. Montevideo is ultimately where it all started.
What’s truly impressive is how they’ve managed to make themselves a relevant power in the present tense, with manager Oscar Tabarez – who was in charge of the side that competed in Italia ’90 – returning in 2006 to oversee an evolution that is ongoing.
During his tenure, Uruguay have reached a World Cup semifinal (2010) and collected the Copa America (2011) to become the leading nation in that tournament’s roll of honour, another extraordinary stat when you consider Brazil and Argentina’s status and resources.
There have been bumps in the road for the 71-year-old, but a solid football infrastructure which he helped to construct has dug them out of trouble.
As it happens, a trip to Dublin last summer helped to shape the path towards Russia with an abject performance in a 3-1 friendly defeat, aligned with a loss to Italy, convincing the veteran boss that change was needed.
The game-plan was solidity in defence aligned with the striking skills of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani. But after they leaked goals on that European trip, Tabarez decided his midfield required brains and the energy of youth rather than brawn in order to strengthen the spine of the team.
Juventus’s Rodrigo Bentancur and Arsenal-bound Sampdoria player Lucas Torreira were drafted in to provide a more coherent link between the rearguard and attack.
He has freshened up his defence too with nine members of the squad aged 25 or under and all homegrown, part of a unique system which is really working. Tabarez is overseeing it, with his brief going beyond senior responsibilities. What’s helping him is a sporting culture built around the round ball. With a slightly smaller population and a parallel in that a third of the population is based around the capital, Uruguay is another of those countries that could be laid out as a template for Ireland.
But it’s a difficult comparison because of their singular focus on the sport which has put them on the world map. If there was no such thing
as GAA or rugby, then Ireland could have a crack at mirroring their approach. They have in excess of 40 professional football clubs so it really is the only sporting show in town.
Even then, it would be desperately hard to mimic a model that is concentrated on intense focus from the age of
5 upwards and which is built around neighbourhoods.
They play ‘Baby Futbol’, which is managed by two associations – one focusing on 11 v 11 football and the other on 7 v
7 and smaller-sided games. It is possible for emerging talent to play in both formats, meaning they can play games twice a week.
From U-14 to U-18 level, there’s another idiosyncratic approach that is based around keeping players engaged.
All five age-group teams at academies play for points every weekend, but their results are compiled together for assessment. Promotion and relegation are decided by collective performances of an operation’s youth section.
In other words, if a club has an outstanding U-16 team but a poor team in other age groups, they will not be taking the glory. This encourages a thorough approach.
Without resorting to stereotype, there are other attributes which help too. The story of Suarez is pitched as a tale of a poor kid who developed fighting qualities to win at all costs and make a better life for himself in Europe and that is not an uncommon tale in Uruguay.
It’s an intriguing country to visit, but it’s not an especially wealthy one.
Damien Duff has bemoaned Irish youngsters’ reluctance to go out and play on the streets. In Uruguay, it’s a common scene. But there is a method behind the development strategy to aid growth, and the fingerprints of Tabarez are all over it.
The generation which are now coming through are more refined than their predecessors.
Colombia might have lost their heads on Monday, but Uruguay did not even pick up a single booking against Portugal.
Suarez’s bite made headlines at the last World Cup – with Tabarez standing by him.
There’s a shrewd streak there but the days of Uruguay being a wild and unpredictable team are being replaced by a coherent and consistent level of performance that has staying power.
They are making their own history.