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Match Preview: Uruguay v Netherlands

By | 6th July 2010
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Match Preview: Uruguay v Netherlands  | read this item

Tuesday, July 6th, 19:30 GMT, Cape Town Stadium

And then there were four. Win, and that team is on to the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final. Lose, and that team moves on to the third-place game (yay!). Uruguay and the Netherlands will be the first two teams to play out this scenario.

Uruguay has a lot of World Cup history – they’ve won it twice – but that was back in 1930 and 1950. Since then, their best finish has been fourth, which has happened twice (1954 and 1970). Holland, meanwhile, have won the most World Cup matches without actually winning it all. Twice they’ve been runner-up (1974 and 1978) and once finished fourth (1998). They are arguably the best team to never have won a World Cup final, and they are close – once again – to achieving this goal.

Uruguay Key to Victory: Go Diego go!

Unless manager Oscar Tabarez has been living under a rock and not following his talisman at the club level, Tabarez knows that Diego Forlan can lead Uruguay to victory. For his club, Atletico Madrid, Forlan scored both of his club’s goals in the Europa League Final against Fulham to lead them to European glory. He can do the same for his country if his teammates can help to create scoring chances for him. Without his strike partner Luis Suarez, Forlan has more of a load to bear, but he is certainly capable of doing so.

Netherlands Key to Victory: Dutch’em to death

Other than Arjen Robben and Eljero Elia, the Netherlands play a pretty straightforward way. It’s just that nobody can compete with it. They pass it around. Everybody gets a lot of touches. They lull the defense to sleep. Then they attack when the other team least expects it. Next thing they know, the Netherlands are up 2-0. Given the not-so-equal talent match-up between the two squads, the Dutch should have no problem carrying out this game plan. If it doesn’t work, just go to Robben to mix things up.

Prediction

Had Uruguay been at full strength for this match I would have predicted a much closer match. However, the loss of Luis Suarez due to his red card cannot be ignored. Uruguay will have to rely solely on Diego Forlan for his big game heroics. He’s certainly capable of them, but his team is far from equally matched against the Dutch.

This will be a tough match because it is the semi-finals of the World Cup and both teams will be giving it their all, but the Netherlands will weather the storm better. Holland wins 3-1.





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