Team profile: Uruguay

The best striker in the world on current form is unquestionably Luis Suárez, the Liverpool ace whose trickery and ability to hold on to the ball through challenge after challenge, and eye for goal from just about anywhere on the pitch, make him the most dangerous opponent defenders will face in Brazil. The good news for defenders, though, is that Suárez underwent surgery on a knee injury three weeks before the World Cup, and if he makes it back into the team, he’ll be short of match fitness. But that won’t leave Uruguay bereft of goal options — after all, Edinson Cavani of Paris Saint-Germain also remains a top transfer target for some of Europe’s leading clubs, while even at 35, Diego Forlán may have something to offer in cameo appearances.

Uruguay hosted and won the first-ever World Cup in 1930, then won it again in 1950 (in Brazil). That’s twice as many times as either England or France has won it. Not only that, it was a semifinalist in 1954, 1970 and 2010.

Besides the potent strike force, Uruguay’s squad is aging, and not exactly stellar. Drawn with Italy and a more youth-oriented England, there’s a real chance that it could fail to get beyond the group phase. Even if it does, it’s not expected to get as far as the semifinals.

Nobody was expecting much of Uruguay in 2010, either. Come to think of it, the football world was shocked when it beat Brazil in 1950. Besides its goal-scoring power up front, there’s a gritty determination and deep experience in a defense that includes the likes of Atlético Madrid’s Diego Godín and Juventus’ Martín Cáceres. Don’t discount them as the underdog; that’s exactly what Los Charrúas are counting on.

Uruguay has had by far the greatest per-capita success in the history of the World Cup. Divide the number of times each nation has won the tournament by its total population, and you’ll find that Brazil’s five wins translate into one for every 40 million citizens, whereas Germany’s three translate into one for every 27 million citizens and Italy’s four equal one for every 15 million. Impressive as that sounds, it’s nothing compared with Uruguay’s one cup for every 1.5 million citizens. Considering that the citizenry constitutes the pool of talent from which a country draws its soccer squad, that makes Uruguay by far the world’s most talented footballing nation.