Uruguay, a small country in southeastern South America, bordering Brazil to the north and Argentina to the west, has a land area of only 176,200 square kilometers and a population of only 3.53 million.
First championship winner
It was such a small country, but it became the host country of the first World Cup in 1930 and the champion of the first World Cup.
The first World Cup was bid by Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Uruguay, but Uruguay promised to pay all the expenses for all participating teams, so other countries withdrew from the bid, and Uruguay successfully bid without suspense.
Money played a key role.
But Uruguay was also a true world's top team, winning two Olympic gold medals in men's football in 1924 and 1928.
Veteran fans know that every World Cup winner gets one star on their shirt, while Uruguay, who have won only twice, get four.
The reason is that the two Olympic football tournaments were not organized by the Olympic Committee, but organized by FIFA alone, equivalent to the predecessor of the World Cup, and the four stars on the Uruguayan jersey were also specially approved by FIFA.
Everything is difficult at the beginning, especially in the first World Cup, the participating teams are invitation-only, even if they can come, even if they can give face, even then only 13 teams from 3 continents participated.
At that time, the transportation was too inconvenient, and only 4 teams from Europe: France, Belgium, Romania and Yugoslavia participated.
The other 9 are: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Mexico, the United States and the host country, Uruguay.
The 13 teams were divided into 4 groups and played a total of 18 matches, which ended with Uruguay beating Argentina 4-2 to win the title.
The intensity of the final is not reflected in the score.
First the game was disputed with the ball, and finally FIFA and the mud, the first half with Argentina's ball, the second half with Uruguay's.
Argentina's midfield core Monti also received death threats the day before the match.
The Belgian referee, John Lankenus, agreed to take office hours before the match and purchased personal insurance, and he also asked the organizing committee to arrange a boat for him at the port within an hour after the game, so that he could escape at any time.
After Uruguay's victory, the Argentine people threw stones at the Uruguayan consulate in the capital, Buenos Aires.
The first World Cup had N more irrationalities, but it still did not tarnish its brilliance.
1930 championship lineup
Back from left: Gestito, Nasazi, Balestro, Masceroni, Andrade, Fernandez;
Front from left: Dorado, Scaloni, Castro, Cea, Ilyarte.
Reaching the top again
In the 1934 and 1938 World Cups, Uruguay refused to participate in the 1934 and 1938 World Cups in protest of the lack of attention paid by European teams.
After that, because of the world war, it was not held for many years.
Uruguay is participating in the World Cup again, already in Brazil in 1950.
There were originally 16 teams participating, but India, Scotland and Turkey temporarily withdrew, leaving only 13 teams.
The tournament was divided into four groups, with the top qualifiers being Brazil, Sweden, Spain and Uruguay.
The final is a round-robin tournament to determine the winner.
The final match was between Brazil and Uruguay, after which Brazil won two games, 7:1 against Sweden and 6:1 against Spain, while Uruguay drew 2:2 with Spain and narrowly beat Sweden 3:2.
Sweden and Spain have already declared their exits, and the final match will determine the final winner.
Uruguay can only win the title by winning, while Brazil only need a draw.
Brazil not only played at home, but also scored 22 goals in their first five games, conceding only four.
Although Uruguay beat Bolivia 8-0 in the group stage, the round-robin form was really mediocre.
The balance of victory was clearly on the Brazilian side, and the course of the match seemed to confirm the speculation, with Brazil scoring a goal with Friaza in the 47th minute.
Uruguay were in a desperate situation when their 33-year-old captain Barrera staged a deadly attack in the 66th minute, with 25-year-old Schiafino heading it back.
In the 79th minute, the miracle came when the then 24-year-old striker Giggia scored the winning goal to defeat the mighty Brazilian team and create the famous Maracana tragedy.
Uruguay also performed the miracle of two competitions and two championships.
1950 championship lineup
Back from left: Obdurio Barrera, Tejera, Hanweta, Matías González, Mospoli, Victor Rodríguez-Andrade;
Front from left: Gigia, Julio Perez, Miguez, Schiafino, Ruben Moran.
Gradually sinking
Obdurio Barrera, captain of Uruguay, the 1950 World Cup winner, is a midfielder nicknamed "Black Boss" who has excellent leadership skills and a tough style of play.
It is said that before the match against Brazil, he overturned the manager's tactical arrangement, because he felt that normal play could not win Brazil, and if he wanted to win, he had to work hard!!!
At the 1986 World Cup, Maradona called Argentina with Barrera's words: "Only by winning the championship can we feel truly glorious."
Captain Barrera
At the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, the 37-year-old Barrera continued to lead the team, beating Czechoslovakia 2-0 and Scotland 7-0 in the group stage.
In a 4-2 victory over England in the quarterfinals, Barrera scored a goal in the 39th minute but was injured in the match, and then failed to play in the semi-finals, and Uruguay also lost 4-2 to the mighty Hungarian team, Uruguay's first defeat in the World Cup.
In the end, they lost 1:3 to Austria in the third and fourth place finals and finished fourth.
Uruguay finished fourth again at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, and since then, Uruguay has withdrawn from the world powers, even though they have won the Copa America several times.
In 1978, 1982, 1994, 1998 and 2006, these five World Cups failed to qualify, and 1974 and 2002 also stopped the group stage.
In 1986 and 1990, with the "Prince of Uruguay" Enzo Francescoli, he could only stop at the top 16.
It was not until the 2010 World Cup in South Africa that Uruguay regained its strong demeanor, with three top strikers in front of Forlan, Edinson Cavani and Suarez, and Godin, a top central defender with outstanding defensive awareness, Perez and Ríos in midfield, with a fierce style and Barrera style, goalkeeper Muslera saved penalties, and the lineup was very balanced.
2010 World Cup squad in South Africa
Although Fran scored 5 goals to win the Ballon d'Or, his performance was not ideal, and in the quarterfinals, relying on Suya's handball to save him, Ghana's Gian missed another penalty, and in the penalty shootout, the good at saving penalties Muslera bravely saved two penalties to advance to the semifinals.
This was followed by the top sixteen in 2014 and the top eight in 2018, with poor results.
Outlook for the 2022 World Cup
Uruguay is in Group H with the Republic of Korea, Ghana and Portugal.
This group, normally Portugal and Uruguay are the strongest, but South Korea and Ghana are not to be underestimated, both have upset strength.
Uruguay's problems are old and old, small and small.
Suya and Cavani are mostly 35 years old, close to 36 years old, and Muslera and Godin are both 36 years old, but these 4 are too deep in the team, basically all will start, which will be a big hidden danger.
There are also heavyweights on all three lines, 23-year-old Liverpool striker Núñez, 24-year-old Real Madrid midfielder Valverde, 23-year-old Barca defender Araujo, and 25-year-old midfielder Bentancur who plays for Tottenham.
The first game against South Korea at 21:00 on 24 November, Portugal at 03:00 on 29 November, and Ghana in the group stage on 2 December.
Normal play, there is not much problem in qualifying, if you want to go further, you must strive for the first place in the group stage, so that you can avoid the most likely group first team in Group G, Brazil.