20 years ago, despite having a 21-goal season with Atlético de Madrid, Diego Alonso He was out from the definitive list of the Uruguay national team who participated in the World Cup Korea-Japan 2002, an experience that marked him forever, but soccer always gives revenge, even if it is not under the same circumstances.
“I have been disappointed by the coach. The greatest illusion I have in my personal and professional life was to play a World Cup, it was my dream “, declared the then forward, who saw the dream of playing a World Cup escape, when the coach of the Uruguayan team, Víctor Púa , did not summon him to contest the competition.
Two decades later, but this time from the bench, Alonso will have one more chance to be in a World Cup, after being announced as new coach replacing Óscar Washington Tabárez, a strategist who led the Uruguayan team since 2006 and in the last three World Cup cycles.
The road will not be easy for Diego, who takes the Uruguay team in seventh place in the Conmebol tie with 16 points and with four games to go in the competition, so he will have to add the 12 units that remain to keep his chances of qualifying or getting into the play-off.
The path of Alonso and Uruguay in the Eliminatory
The Diego Alonso’s official game debut will be on January 27, when Uruguay visit the Paraguay National Team in Asuncion. Five days later he will receive in Montevideo Venezuela, last place in the table with seven units.
These two games will be key since in the last two days they will face Peru Y chili, two teams with which he will fight the last two direct tickets to Qatar 2022 or the pass to reclassification, a place that Peruvians have so far.
On March 24 in the Uruguayan capital they will have the visit of the Peruvian National Team and will close visiting the Chileans on the 29th of the same month, in a game in which both tables could arrive with the possibility of accessing the first World Cup to be played in Qatari lands .
The good news for the Uruguayan team is that in the last four dates He will no longer have to play against Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador, which are the teams that have dominated the knockout tournament.
It should be remembered that two of the four tickets to the next World Cup already have owners (Brazil and Argentina), so the remaining two will be fighting eight countries, including Uruguay, which has attended the last three editions. The last time he was out of the tournament was in Germany 2006.
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Diego Alonso, for the World Cup as a coach who was denied playing