Overview - South Africa Vs Uruguay
South Africa had probably exceeded expectations in the tournament opening match against Mexico. They were a little nervous early on in that game but came out of the half time interval fully charged up and took the game to the Mexicans in the second half. Although they lost their lead to their opponents but their overall performance was well above average, raising levels of expectations from the home media and their supporters. They were definitely the happier of the two teams at the end of the match.
Uruguay, on the other hand, played a dour goalless draw with France later the same day but they must have taken it as a point gained instead of two lost. Although, the Uruguayans were the better of the two sets of players in that match, they failed to penetrate the not so firm French defensive line. Rare scoring opportunities came through the attacking duo of Diego Forlan and Luis Saurez. Uruguayans also showed discipline in their defensive side of the game, especially when they were reduced to 10 men after Nicolas Lodiero’s sending off.
After the first round of matches all four teams of Group A were locked at a point apiece. This first match of the second round was an opportunity for both South Africa and Uruguay to get their noses in front in the race for progressing through this group. A win for Uruguay would give them a big advantage over France and Mexico for getting the top spot in the group. A victory for South Africa could be a huge step for them towards their first ever knock-out round qualification.
South Africa’s head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira must have told his players that they could now build on their positive performance in the first match and defy the odds to progress through the group stage. And if he really did so, he made a big mistake. South African players had only done well in their first match against Mexico because they had nothing to lose. They had played to entertain their enthusiastic fans which earned them great rewards. The weight of expectation was too high for the South Africans to cope with and they stumbled under its pressure.
South Africa is the only team in the tournament who is attuned to the annoying sound of Vuvuzelas and the players had urged their supporters to keep Vuvuzela blowing during all their matches to get a better response from them on field. The Vuvuzela sound, however, started fizzing out after the first goal went in for the Uruguayans. Enthusiasm in the South African players also started deteriorating and they suddenly come under huge pressure. There was serious lack of coordination among the players, midfielders could not distribute the ball well and the attackers could not sense the searching balls.
An industrious display from Diego Forlan inspired Uruguay to put on an extremely good performance, definitely worthy of the second round. He scored his first just after quarter time had gone. South African goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune was sent off after he tripped Luis Suarez in the 18-yard box. Forlan scored his second of the night from the resulting spot kick and Alvaro Pereira added another in the additional time to make a convincing score line.
South Africa will face France in their last group match. The pre-tournament favourites of this group, France drew their first match with Uruguay and then lost to Mexico in the second. They will need to win their last match to have any chance of staying in the tournament, which is bad news for South Africa. Although, France have not performed anywhere near what was expected of them, they should be just good enough to get the better of the South Africans.
If this happens, South Africa would become the first ever hosts in the history of World Cups to have failed to progress through to the first stage of the tournament. Uruguay just needs a draw from their last match against Mexico to top the group and face the second placed team from Group B in the Round of 16.
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