“Ask Alonso”: strong messages from Uruguayan figures after the defeat against Portugal in the World Cup

* Special envoy to Doha, Qatar

The thermometer just blew the final whistle in the corridors of the Lusail Stadium He already marked the target. Uruguay He had made a bet in the first stage that did not end up serving the interests of the team and when he changed his intentions it seemed to be too late. Coach Diego Alonso made decisions that, so far, have not paid off against South Korea and against Portugal. The tension due to the delicate situation in which the Light blue It also seemed to move to the locker room, judging by the words of some of its figures.

edinson cavani was the first to expose the situation when a journalist from channel 12 from Uruguay asked him why they couldn’t find his way back: “You have to ask Alonso that. Ask him, he will be able to talk to you more tactically about what can happen. They are football matches. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t. We have to prepare what is coming”.

The striker tried to leave a clear message behind closed doors: “Knowing that we have great potential to be able to give more and leave points like this, which in the end is costly, because losing points in a World Cup is complicated. It leaves a bitter taste…”

When the striker from Valencia in Spain passed through the mixed zone after talking to his country’s TV, he was courteous, but blunt: “I just spoke…”. And of course, the message that he wanted to raise had already been given. Jose Maria Gimenezanother of the leaders, also raised a similar line before the microphones of infobae in the Lusail Stadium: “It’s up to us to qualify for the round of 16, we want to see Uruguay in the second half”.

The defender, when asked about why a change in level was noted from one time to another, reflected: “I think it was the head, knowing that we have tremendous potential. The second half is the selection that we all want to see. In the second half it cost us less, we generated many chances. We had chances to tie the game, but obviously you’re playing against a team against Portugal that has a lot of quality in attack and it’s difficult; obviously the criminal sentenced us ”.

Jose Mastill hot from the defeat, had been even more crude with the official broadcast from the field of play seconds after the game ended: “The same thing happened in the first game. We did not go out to win, we entered a little doubtfully with our football, the game we have, which sometimes, no matter how hard it is for us, is. It is one of the facets that we still have not fully taken out in the matches. There remains a feeling of great bitterness because we have a great team, great players and we are not leaving. We are not contributing the football that we really have. It’s a shame”.

And he added about what they must modify in the face of the great definition against Ghana: “First the head, to enter the field, more than with a clear idea, knowing the need we have and from the attitude nothing can be reproached, It was seen, we finished the game all very tired of the gigantic effort that is made ”.

“I think that in the first half, more than anything, we didn’t have the ball so much. Perhaps in the second the game opened up a little more, by both of them as well. We could have played a little better. The analysis is that perhaps we have to have more of the ball and try to take advantage of the opportunities”, Sebastián Coates raised before this medium. “Of course, losing always hurts, but we have one more game. We know that it is a final like any other”, he added.

Federico Valverde, Diego Godín, Luis Suárez and the rest of the Uruguayan figures chose silence when going through the Hispanic microphones. Although the gunslinger He did take a minute to answer questions from the Portuguese journalists: “What we have to do is play against Ghana. There is no alternative. The speculations are over and now what we have to do is face the last game as a final. Not giving away minutes, as we did in the previous game and today”, he sentenced according to the Brazilian media outlet OUOL.

The striker Maxi Gómez, on the other hand, was somewhat more positive after what happened in this second game against infobaealthough he did agree on the notable change of game between the two stages: “I’m hot for the result. We came to look for victory and it was not possible. We have the last bullet. We missed the goal. We had many occasions to be able to specify and it was not possible. Portugal played very well in the first half, they had the ball, they moved it fast. It was difficult for us to have it, to move it. The second half was the opposite, we came out with more dynamics, we played better. We had those occasions, it’s a pity they didn’t come in. We have to win the last game, we have to come out with everything. It’s up to us if we win or not.”

The silver bullet for Uruguay it will be put into play next Friday, December 2 when they face Ghana. The victory is the only result that works for him and would leave him with serious chances of advancing to the round of 16, although it will also depend on South Korea not hitting against the classified Portugal team.

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