Match date: 19 June 2014

England and Roy Hodgson looked okay against Italy, despite losing 2-1. Rooney looked out of place on the left side of England’s attack as he failed to track his man consistently,and had no impact on the match except for the assist for Daniel Sturridge’s equaliser. For this match, however, Hodgson opted to make no changes to his starting XI despite the available players on the bench.

In their last outing, Uruguay was soundly beaten by Costa Rica 3-1. It was a surprise given the talent that Uruguay has and the fact that they had an excellent World Cup showing in 2010 and are the current Copa America champions. Tabarez made five changes to his side as well as a change in shape, but most importantly for Uruguay, Luis Suarez was fit.

Uruguay’s Diamond + Cavani

Perhaps because of the problems that Costa Rica gave them and the need to overload the midfield against England, Tabarez rearranged his midfield into a diamond behind Cavani and Suarez. Shielding the defense was Arevalo Rios, to the right was Gonzalez, to the left was Rodriguez, and in front was Lodeiro. Cavani did an excellent job at working back as well, which gave Uruguay another man in midfield, sometimes giving them a 5v3 numerical advantage.

Arevalo Rios was given the task on man-marking Rooney, who Hodgson placed back in the number 10 role after a much criticised performance in the Italy game playing from the left. For the first half, in particular, Arevalo Rios did a good job keeping Rooney from having much of an impact on the match. In the picture above, you can see how close Rios is to Rooney and also how central the pairing are. It wasn’t until later in the first half and then in the second half, that Rooney began to drift away from the centre and changed his position with Sterling and Welbeck that he began to have a more noticeable impact on the match. Below, you can see that, while he received the ball roughly the same amount each third of the game, but was able to get on it in more dangerous areas when he moved from a central position.

Cavani did a good defensive job on Steven Gerrard, the other England player that Tabarez must have identified as needing a man-marker. In the in-match screen capture above, you can see Cavani sprinting towards Gerrard to close him down. During the Italy match, while Gerrard was not supplied as much as his opposite in Andrea Pirlo (who has been playing in a deep-lying role for the majority of his career), Gerrard did well dictating England’s play, finding switches out to Baines and Johnson. Against Uruguay, not only was he limited in the amount of touches that he got compared to Italy, he wasn’t afford time to pick out passes as easily and when he did they were less progressive. Below, you can see Gerrard’s passing from the two matches and can see that his forward passing and passing overall was much more limited.

Cavani Attacks, England Defends

Throughout the domestic season, both Cavani and Gerrard were played in relatively new roles. Cavani moved from Napoli to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer and began to find his opportunities to play in a central striker role less frequent with Zlatan Ibrahimovic as PSG’s main striker. As a result, the Uruguayan played on the right more often and found himself doing more defensive work than he was meant to do at Napoli. This match saw him use his defensive work to keep Gerrard from having much of an influence on the match. On the other side of the ball, Cavani was one of Uruguay’s best attackers and would have been had Suarez not been on the pitch.

Cavani setup Suarez for the first goal of the match, constantly finding space between Gerrard, who was too high at times, and Cahill and Jagielka. Gerrard made three of his four tackles, but missed one in the build up to the first goal and struggled when Uruguay broke quickly. The second goal saw Gerrard and Cavani match up again. Cavani went up for the header, but missed the ball, which then went off of Gerrard’s head to only fall to Suarez. Many seemed to blame Gerrard after the match, but neither Cahill or Jagielka picked up Suarez or dropped off once they saw that both Cavani and Gerrard go up, they should have dropped off.

Suarez

The Liverpool striker was the difference in the match. He wasn’t fit for the last match due to his knee surgery less than a month ago, but he looked on point against England. His movement against Jagielka, in particular, was very good and he was always offering an option in the channels. He did not look at his best, but he was much better than either England centre back in terms of responsibility. He showed his much improved finishing ability as well.

Changes

In the second half, both Johnson and Baines, in particular, got much further up the field. They were both much more dangerous and contributed much more. Johnson had a very good run going forward to that produced Rooney’s goal. Tabarez responded by bringing on Christian Stuani for Lodeiro and switching to a flatter midfield, with Cavani still dropping off, giving Uruguay a 4-4-1-1. This protected Caceres against Baines a bit better, but then moved Alvaro Pereira up, took off Gonzalez and put on Fucile at left back to help defended against Johnson three minutes after England equalised.

Hodgson’s changes had much less of an impact really. Sterling was brought off first for Barkley, who was then played out of position. Lallana was brought on for Welbeck and because both of the substitutes drifted inside and made it easier for the full backs to push on.

Conclusion

The match was really separated by Suarez. He maybe not be 100% fit, but both of his finishes were what Liverpool supporters have seen all season. Both sides need to win the match to stay in the running for advancement from the group and, without the Italy v Costa Rica match being played yet, the chances of England’s advancement took a big hit.

Uruguay face Italy in the last match and it could determine who secures a first place finish, while England will play Costa Rica, and barring Costa Rica earning a surprise win against Italy, it could mean England have something to play for.