2013 U-20 World Cup: 5 Areas of Improvement for Uruguay Ahead of Saturday's Final

Just about squeezing past Iraq and into their second Under-20 World Cup final, Uruguay’s semifinal triumph was undoubtedly a lot closer than Juan Verzeri will have wanted it to be.

The South Americans now prepare themselves for a showdown with a very confident-looking French side, against whom they’ll need to show marked improvement.

With that being the case, here’s five specific areas that Uruguay must improve in time for the tournament’s finale.

Isolating the Forward Line

Although Nicolas Lopez is one of the most successful talents in the Uruguayan squad at club level, the Roma starlet’s talents were far from properly utilised against Iraq.

La Celeste Olimpica were at times relying on route-one football, and even though that saw the likes of Sebastian Cristoforo and Leonardo Pais pick out their striker with ease, it might as well have counted for naught.

Even when Lopez was able to latch onto the end of a lofted through ball, the 20-year-old would often find himself hunted down by the opposition defenders and was regularly restricted to long-range efforts.

Against France, Verzeri’s men will need to improve their interlinking play between midfield and attack, using more phases of play to ensure the forward three aren’t found alone. 

Finishing of Chances

Perhaps the most obvious area in need of improvement, Uruguay’s finishing against Iraq certainly left a lot to be desired.

In total, the South American side had 22 shots, 12 of which were on target. Only one of that sample resulted in a goal.

Inaccurate to say the least.

It’s also worth noting that a decent amount of those chances came in added time. It’s understandable that the youngsters might get tired in the Turkish sun, but the wasting of chances simply due to being too tired to get off a worthwhile shot isn’t an excuse Verzeri will accept too easily.

In a way, the loneliness that Lopez experienced at times is reason to appreciate the striker’s conundrum, but the likes of Giorgian de Arrascaeta and Diego Rolan also had chances they should have stuck away.

Credit must be paid to Mohammed Hameed, who had an impressive night in goal for Iraq for the majority of the evening. With that being said, a certain sense of panic did permeate from some of Uruguay’s starlets when the pressure was at its highest. 

Commitment in Numbers

Even though the South Americans weren’t considered favourites by a massive margin heading into Wednesday’s semifinal, Uruguay seemed to have a certain cockiness to their play.

Instead of launching forward alongside their forward line, Verzeri’s midfield looked more than happy to pick out a ball and then simply watch the forwards struggle instead of offering support.

At least, that’s how the evening began.

Before long, the Uruguayans seemed to realise their night may not be as easy as first supposed, especially after Ali Adnan’s cheeky opener.

While it may represent a considerable risk of being struck on the counter, Uruguay need to be more confident when pushing forward in numbers and ensuring their forward three aren’t left to do the job alone.

A perfect example of this was Diego Laxalt, one of the most talented players in the Uruguay lineup, whose play was extremely limited thanks to a lack of support.

Cristoforo was the only one of the midfield three offering a consistent outlet. Pais and Gino Acevedo could stand to improve in that vein, if they’re indeed chosen to start against the French. 

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

On more than one occasion against Iraq, Uruguay looked a little too eager to get the ball forward and this eventually proved detrimental to their own play.

Especially in the second half, when chasing the equaliser, the Sky Blues wasted their fair share of possession simply because they wanted to make things happen as quickly as they had done in the group stage.

In the end, this just resulted in a shortage of possession, due to the frequency with which they were giving the ball away.

Sunday’s crescendo will already be far different in terms of match tempo just because the Uruguayans now head into their encounter as underdogs, miles away from the favourite status placed upon them against Iraq.

As a result, Verzeri needs to go back to his side’s roost, playing the slow, grinding game that made them one of the best defences in the earlier stages and allowed them to snatch a slight win over Spain. 

Defensive Communication

Although Uruguay were good at restricting the opposition to long-range efforts on the whole, a bit more talking in defence would ensure that chances given to Iraq would have been even fewer.

In particular, the relationship between the two centre-backs and their goalkeeper could do with improving.

Against Hakeem Al Azzawi’s side, Gaston Silva and Jose Gimenez granted Mohanad Abdulraheem a little too much space.

Granted, Abdulraheem is one of the finest attacking players in the competition, but the defenders were still caught out too often—especially in the air.

Guillermo de Amores could obviously benefit from more communication with his defence and obviously needs to take care of his positioning more after being embarrassed by Adnan’s first-half free-kick.

The Uruguay No. 1 is going to come under even more pressure on Sunday and needs to ensure the channels between him and his outfielders ensures a smooth performance with more leadership coming from him.