Diego Alonso, the head coach for the Sky Blue of Uruguay has released his final squad for the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
Qatar will be Uruguay’s fourth World Cup in a row, a remarkable feat for a country with a population of just under 3.5 million.
They reached the quarter-finals in Russia four years ago, having got to the round of 16 in Brazil and the semi-finals in South Africa.
Uruguay have been drawn in Group H at this year’s tournament and will face Portugal, Ghana and South Korea. They will play Ghana for the first time since their infamous quarter-final in 2010, which saw Luis Suarez sent off for a handball on the line that prevented Uruguay from being knocked out. Asamoah Gyan missed the resulting penalty and Ghana lost the penalty shootout which followed.
Suarez is remarkably still part of the Uruguay squad 12 years later. The 35-year-old is Uruguay’s all-time top scorer with 68 goals and was named in Alonso’s preliminary 55-man for Qatar, whose hosting of the tournament is controversial for the reasons outlined in this article.
However, Ronald Araujo who was injured in September has been named in the squad for the mundial.
URUGUAY’S FINAL SQUAD:
