The Uruguayan national team kicked off their soccer matches in the Qatar 2022 World Cup with a goalless draw against South Korea on Thursday at the Education City Stadium in Doha in the first round of Group H competitions.
And the La Celeste team, twice blocked by the post, suffered from its defender Diego Godin (44) and midfielder Federico Valverde (89).
Diego Alonso, coach of “La Celeste”, played the young man’s card in attack, pushing the duo Darwin Nunes (23 years old) and Facundo Pellestri (20) alongside the veteran Luis Soares (35), while he decided to leave the another 35- year veteran, Edinson Cavani, on the bench.
And South Korea, under the supervision of their Portuguese coach Paulo Bento, in turn relied on a triple attack led by Tottenham Hotspur star Heung-Min Son.
And Korea failed to translate their 57% ball possession 12 minutes after kick-off on Progress goal, before squandering the most dangerous chance of the first half after a precise ground pass from Moon-Hwan Kim inside the area, which was carelessly hit with his right foot by the Greek striker of Olympiacos Ui-Jo, Huang passed the goal (34′).
The left post saved South Korean goalkeeper Seong-Gyu Kim from a goal by veteran defender Diego Godin (36), who climbed over to follow Federico Valverde’s corner (44).
Nunes penetrates the Korean penalty area, but his pass on the ground finds the goalkeeper alert (64′), while the Uruguayan coach makes his first substitution by eliminating Soares and inserting Cavani, who exchanges the ball with Nunes and kicks this last in area. to the side of the Korean goal (81′), before blocking the left post once A splendid new shot from 25 meters for Valverde (89′).
The Uruguayan national team’s failing curse at the start of its World Cup matches, having scored three points only once in their last eight appearances, came at the expense of Egypt (1-0) in Russia 2018, compared to 4 draws and 3 defeats.
Uruguay reached the World Cup in Qatar from third place in the qualifying group of the South American continent, with 28 points, behind Brazil (45) and Argentina (39).
On the other hand, South Korea ranked second in its group behind Iran in the third round of the Asian continent.
The two teams met for the third time in the World Cup finals, where Uruguay stood out in the previous two matches with two victories in the group stage in 1990 (1-0) and the final price in the 2010 edition (2-1) .
This is the fourteenth participation of the Uruguayan national team, who won the world title twice in 1930 and 1950. And later Portugal plays in the same group against Ghana.
