Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda
// July 6th, 2010 // Uncategorized
**Update** You can listen to my Uruguay post-mortem on The People’s Game at http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive/m3u.php?mp3fil=27811
Yeah, we put up a good fight. Yeah, we scored at the end to make sure we went out with our heads held as high as possible. And yeah, they are dancing in the streets in Montevideo today, just as much as after the Ghana game.
But I can’t help thinking that we could have gotten to the final. The first Dutch goal came after a horrible foul by Vam Bommel on Gargano that wasn’t called. The second Dutch goal was probably offsides. Worse, Uruguay got called for 2-3 offsides in the first half when they were clearly on-side. (FIFA?) And I’m still waiting to see a replay of that final play that came off Van Persie’s head or hand, I’m not sure which.
We suffered today without Suarez and Fucile (Victorino had a good game in place of Lugano). And we kept three defensive midfielders in the second half, when the Dutch, to their credit, put on Ven der Vaart for De Zeeuuwweeuuww (or however the heck you spell that guy’s name). I feel a little like we played not to lose, when we could have played to win. For goodness sake, we were playing with house money. Why not go for it, at least in the second half? I guess that once you get close, you start to feel like you almost have it, and the worry about losing something takes over. I would have preferred that we went all out in a blaze of glory.
But the team gave us some moments: Forlan’s goals and leadership, Perez’s bloody determination, Muslera’s confident stops, Maxi’s endless running, Rios’ everywhere-ness, Abreu’s penalty, Suarez’s goal against South Korea… it was wonderful. They made us proud. And just you wait, because in four years, the World Cup is in Brazil — and we know a thing or two about winning the World Cup in Brazil.
Posted by Lazar
13 Responses to “Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda”
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Good job to the Uruguayans, everytime Forlan touches the ball, my heart skips, and they fought to the very end. To tell the truth, I was very actively rooting for the Netherlands because I wanted them to win and I held a grudge against Suarez no matter what you say. But the way they played earned my respect again, especially Forlan, god that guy scares the crap out of me.
La Celeste played their hearts out during this whole campaign…, good to see, for a change.
Now that it is virtually said and done (i know, I know… 3rd n’ 4th place… blah blah blah), the ‘Powers At Be’ in the AUF need to review that old and tired play that seems to be pseudonymous with Uruguayan play. What I mean is the Long Balls from the backs which are such low percentage plays. I recall seeing several times today, especially Victorino, unmarked defenders kicking the hell out out the jubalani only for it to reach an attacking player who very quickly put La Celeste back into the hot-pot! This, more often than not, did not need to be and concreted the ball play in the Uruguayan half.
Well…where to start, yeah the calls were a little dodgy going the Dutch way, but at first glance I thought the 1st goal came from a V Bommel foul as well, but on the replay I think he gets there first (or 50 50 so play on) and the ball is played another three times after that and then the GvB shot was a golaso (sp?) all the way so what can you do? The 2nd and 3rd I have no problems with, and I’m surprised you didn’t mention Uruguay’s 2nd, a smart little play that.
But as Hugo says the lack of direct ball control let you guys down, either hopeful punts, or passes that went straight to Dutch players to either kill the break out, thereby putting more pressure on the back line, or in the final third (Cavani and Forlan tired early today) leaving the Dutch to flood forward with three or four players caught up field. Finally the lack of a third real goal scorer doomed you guys, after Forlan and Suarez the drop off was just too great. If Holland was missing, lets say VanPersie for that game, they’d still have Robben and Snedijder up front, whereas La Celeste had Cavani who I didn’t rate before this tourney (having watched too many Serie A matches on local TLN cable here in Canada) and today around the area he lost possession too many times to be considered a real replacement for Suarez…
However playing in the 3rd place game for a country of roughly 3.2 million ain’t too shabby, they should be proud of what they managed to do this tourney when most didn’t have them picked to get out of their group.
What, oh what was Tabarez doing subbing out Forlan? After the third Dutch goal, the Dutch put it in neutral and almost couldn’t glide over the line. The last five minutes of regulation, and the five minutes of injury time were purely nauseating white knuckle defending for Holland. And might it not have been nice for Uruguay to have had their one legitimate goal scoring threat available for that all hands on deck finish? And what IF the game had gone to extra time/penalties? Tabarez would have been barbecued for having removed Forlan. If he didn’t need to be stretchered (or ambulanced) off, he should have been on the pitch.
But all praise for a great Uruguayo effort, even if I was rooting for Ghana in the quarters.
I think Germany will eat both Spain’s and Holland’s lunch.
The Dutch played a grittier game, as Van Marwijk wanted them to, I imagine. I’m surprised Robben didn’t roll around more! It seems that Total Football has devolved to going for the dirty win, something that Uruguay never practiced, thankfully. That said, Forlan looked exhausted without Suarez’s energy to bounce off; he even botched a few passes. The classier side lost — here’s to Uruguay winning 3rd place!
The Uruguayans played a much better and cleaner game than the Brazilians against Holland. They were not nasty fouls and awful tirades among the Uruguayans. I feel that with Lugano and Suarez in the squad Uruguay would not have lost.
I still can’t breathe.
What a match, still recovering. So proud of Uruguay and what they were able to pull off without Suarez, Laguna and Fucile. Gut wrenching.
Lazar, enjoyed your posts, agree with your musings about the match. Sigh.
Viva la garra Charrúa!
Well… I´m a brasilian and I could be mad about your comment of winning the world cup here, but I´ll not!
I wish Brasil had played like Uruguai. I was supporting Uruguai since I saw the determination and love that your players go to the game.
You all should be proud of this team and the players.
Sure coulda, woulda, shoulda. In the end the Dutch were the better team and won. They had more chances, scored more goals and looked more dangerous in general.
The Dutch were the first decent team Uruguay faced and Uruguay went out. Sure semifinal of the worldcup, but South Korea and Ghana aren’t particularly high rollers. The Dutch beat Ghana easily 4-1 in a friendly 2 weeks before the world cup.
Thanks to everyone for their smart comments. It was a good run. But I’m not going anywhere, and the blog will be here long after the World Cup. Keep watching this space!
As I await for this evening’s game, I am reminded why I like this site so much. The build-up commentary on the BBC here in the UK is so excruciating, Oh ! hang on , the game has started so I am going to turn the sound off and deny myself the wisdom another two idiots.
NMOB’s raison d’e^tre has never before been more clear to me !
My commiserations to Uruguay and your stoicism Lazar.
John, it can’t be as bad as here. Martin Tyler spent time explaining to the American viewer that Spain don’t just pass for passing’s sake, but because they want to move forward and eventually score. I think I heard Efan Ekoku nod in agreement.
check that…just watched the VanBommel tackle before the lead up to the GvB goal….dirty, dirty, dirty. Free kick at the least. Feh.