- Stephen Pollard
- Thu, Jun 19 2014
Luis Suarez bagged a brace, with a Wayne Rooney goal sandwiched in between to hand Uruguay a two one victory over England in Sao Paulo.
Suarez opened the scoring five minutes before the break with a stunning header. Rooney leveled with a calm finish fifteen minutes from time but the Liverpool hitman proved the difference, latching onto a Steven Gerrard mistake to hand his side victory.
For the opening fifteen minutes of the first half, both sides jostled for control of possession and by extension midfield. In that time, Wayne Rooney had gone very close to an opener, his well-shaped free kick just finishing the wrong side of the post.
On the quarter hour mark though, Uruguay responded with an effort of their own. Nicolas Lodeiro had opened proceedings well with his range of passing and that was again prevalent as he found Christian Rodriguez. The Atletico Madrid midfielder unleashed a thundering drive which beat both Joe Hart and the crossbar.
Ten minutes later Uruguay again went close. Lodeiro was once again at the heart of it, his pass to Edinson Cavani cut out by Phil Jagielka as the striker ran in on goal. From the corner which Jagielka conceded though, Lodeiro again found Cavani and the PSG striker smashed the cultured midfielder’s centre over Hart’s crossbar.
Moments later, Rooney could not have gone any closer to his first World Cup goal. Steven Gerrard whipped in a free kick to the back post and the Manchester United striker rose above Martin Caceres to get his head to it. He could not butt the ball downwards though and as a result it cannoned off the crossbar to safety.
England had probably been the better side since the half hour mark, but the little man from Montevideo hadn’t had a sniff yet, and with 40 international goals to his name, a chance was inevitable. That came five minutes from the break as Lodeiro dispossessed Gerrard in midfield. He drove on before seeking out Cavani and the PSG man put a delightful cross in for Suarez to decisively head home past Hart, for his first goal of the tournament.
Uruguay were obviously buoyed by the half time words of Oscar Tabarez as they arrived out of the second half starting blocks like the proverbial house on fire. The link between Lodeiro and Cavani seemed almost telepathic, and when the former latched onto a loose ball the latter was not far away. Cavani was swept in by Lodeiro and should have finished the chance, but he miscued his effort of the wrong part of his foot and spared England’s blushes.
Rooney was beginning to become more of a factor and but for a Fernando Muslera save, he would have England level. The cross for the chance came in from Leighton Baines on the left hand side and Rooney got close side of Godin. He fired it towards goal but Muslera made a fine stop to deny him.
Fifteen minutes from time, Rooney got the goal his performance richly deserved. Daniel Sturridge turned two Uruguay midfielders inside their half before setting away Glen Johnson down the right. The Liverpool full back burst into the box, before clashing with a Uruguayan defender. He won that clash though and fed the ball to Rooney who finished with aplomb past a despairing Muslera.
Just five minutes from time, Suarez broke English hearts. Gerrard was caught under a long ball from Muslera, and he unfortunately flicked it over Jagielka into the path of the diminutive front man. He made no mistake, taking a single touch before calmly drilling the ball past Hart to give Uruguay a late lead.
England huffed and puffed but their captain Gerrard became selfish in his play and it ultimately proved costly as they could not find another opening, leaving England all but out of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Uruguay: Fernando Muslera; Martín Cáceres, Jose Maria Gimenez, Diego Godin, Alvaro Pereira; Egidio Arevalo Rios; Alvaro Gonzalez (Jorge Fucile 79), Nicolás Lodeiro (Christian Stuani 67), Cristian Rodriguez; Luis Suárez (Sebastián Coates 88); Edinson Cavani.
Booked: Godin (9).
England: Joe Hart; Glen Johnson, Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines; Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson (Rickie Lambert 87); Raheem Sterling (Ross Barkley 64), Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck (Adam Lallana 71); Daniel Sturridge.
Booked: Gerrard (68).
Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (Spain)
Attendance: 66,200
Extratime.com Man of the match: Jose Maria Gimenez (Uruguay)
