Luis Suarez's Injury Bodes Well for England's Chances at 2014 World Cup

It turns out that when you remove a team's best player from the starting lineup, it isn't as good. England supporters are no doubt reveling in Uruguay's struggles without Luis Suarez.

La Celeste were thoroughly humbled in a 3-1 defeat to Costa Rica on Saturday. The Liverpool forward, still dealing with a knee injury, wasn't even used as a substitute.

Uruguay manager Oscar Tabarez said after the match that Suarez was fit but that playing him would've been too much of a risk. His status is still up in the air for the England match, per David McDonnell of the Daily Mirror:

Make no mistake about it. Although Suarez does little to help what are the team's systemic problems at the back, his presence on the pitch makes Uruguay a completely different team.

Without him, what can be an extremely dangerous team becomes a merely pedestrian one. After that performance against Costa Rica, Italy and England smell blood in the water.

Goal's Thomas Floyd thinks Uruguay is headed for an early exit already:

It's easy to forget how tough of a time the team had during qualification. This isn't the side that finished fourth at the 2010 World Cup and won the 2011 Copa America.

Uruguay finished with a goal differential of zero in its 16 CONMEBOL qualifying matches and needed the playoff against Jordan to book its place in the World Cup.

So you've got a team that's become increasingly reliant on its top striker to solve its problems and save the day.

The most obvious difference when Suarez is out is that Diego Forlan must take on a larger role. Four years ago, the Cerezo Osaka striker was the talisman for La Celeste. Now that he's 35 years old, he can't be relied upon to give the team 70 or even 60 good minutes.

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This has been one of the biggest problems for Uruguay over the last few years. With Forlan declining, nobody has been able to take the kind of deep-lying playmaker role that he occupied in South Africa.

Suarez can't do it all.

On paper, a strike partnership of Edinson Cavani and Suarez should mean automatic goals. That hasn't been the case, and taking Suarez out only makes the problem worse.

Adam Bate of Sky Sports broke down exactly what swapping out the Reds star for Forlan does to Uruguay tactically:

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Both Forlan and Edinson Cavani were reduced to chasing hopeful long balls, with Uruguay showing nothing between the lines in an alarmingly rigid 4-4-2 formation. Of course, it is Suarez who can make sense of this system with his channel runs and the ability to turn and run at defenders. He may well feature against England on Thursday but will he be back to his best?

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Cavani is much more of poacher than a playmaker, so he won't stray too far from the 18-yard box. As a result, Forlan has to drop deeper and he lacks the speed and stamina to play as a secondary striker.

So then Cavani and Forlan get left on an island, and the only way they can get service is over the top. Costa Rica cut that out and neutralized Uruguay's best goalscoring options.

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This causes problems in other areas of the pitch. How Uruguay's forwards perform goes a long way in dictating how the defense holds up.

If opposing teams feel they don't have to worry about the Uruguayan attack as much, then they'll start pushing forward more often. As was demonstrated on Saturday, La Celeste's back four is aging and extremely slow.

From an England perspective, the speed of Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling could wreak havoc on Uruguay if they have license to make forward runs often.

But if the Three Lions are penned in trying to defend Suarez, the Liverpool attackers won't have as many opportunities to stretch their legs and test Uruguay's back four.

Roy Hodgson's team showed some positive signs in its 2-1 loss to Italy. Supporters should feel encouraged of England's chances of advancing out of the group.

With Suarez's injury, their future is looking even brighter.

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