Uruguay vs Brazil tips: Selecao to prevail in crunch World Cup qualifier
With South America looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup, football pundit Sergiu Baltuta takes a look at one of the biggest games in the fourth round of CONMEBOL qualifiers.
Uruguay is one of the smallest nations by population ever to qualify for the World Cup, let alone win the competition.
Nicknamed La Celeste (The Sky Blue), Uruguay played their first-ever game against Argentina in 1901, a 3-2 loss. They played most of their first 15 years against Argentina before the inaugural Copa America, then called the South American Championships, in 1917.
The Uruguayans won the first two Copa America tournaments and took gold at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris and the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. In the latter, they beat Argentina in the final with a 2-1 scoreline.
With just 3.4 million residents, Uruguay is one of the seven smallest nations ever to qualify for a World Cup and they are the smallest to have won one.
Before the World Cup existed, FIFA recognised the Olympic champions as the world champions. As a result of winning Olympic gold in 1924 and again in 1928, Uruguay was selected to host the first-ever World Cup in 1930.
They trailed hosts Brazil 1-0 in the final before Pepe Schiaffino and Alcides Ghiggia scored to give Uruguay a significant upset in front of an estimated crowd of 200,000 fans. The win made Uruguay the first nation ever to win two World Cups.
La Celeste had four different goal scorers when beating England 4-2 in the quarter-finals, but they lost by the same scoreline against Hungary in the semis. Uruguay took fourth place after a 3-1 defeat to Austria in the bronze final.
After missing out on qualifying in 1958, Uruguay returned to the World Cup in 1962 in Chile. They beat Colombia 2-1 in the opener but lost to Yugoslavia 3-1 and the USSR 2-1, failing to advance past the group stage.
Uruguay finished top of the group as Luis Suarez scored in a 1-0 win over Mexico.
Suarez scored twice in a 2-1 Round of 16 win over South Korea, but was sent off late in the quarter-final against Ghana for a controverisal handball on the goal line. Ghana missed the resulting penalty that would have surely won them the game, and Uruguay then went on to be triumphant in the penalty shootout after the game ended 1-1.
A short trip to Brazil in 2014 put Uruguay in a tough group with Italy and England. They lost the opener to Costa Rica 3-1, with Edinson Cavani scoring the consolation.
The biggest rivalry for the Uruguayans is against neighbours Argentina. Dating back to 1901, the teams have played nearly 200 times, with Argentina leading the series 92-57 with 48 draws.
The teams have met twice in the World Cup, with each side winning once. They have also played 32 times in the Copa America, but never in a final.
Argentina have 15 wins in the Copa America with Uruguay winning 13 encounters.
Uruguay have played against Brazil 78 times with 20 wins, 20 draws and 38 losses. Uruguay beat Brazil to win the 1950 World Cup, and Brazil topped Uruguay in the semi-finals in 1970 by a 3-1 scoreline.
Uruguay have also played 84 times against Chile with 47 wins and 18 draws. They beat the Chileans in finalsof the Copa America in 1920 and 1987.
The most capped player in the nation's history is centre-back Diego Godin with 161 caps. Luis Suarez (137), Edinson Cavani (136), Fernando Muslera (133) and Maxi Pereira (125) round out the top five.
Suarez leads the nation with 68 goals, while Cavani has 58 and Forlan has 36. All three have also represented Uruguay in the English Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A.
Muslera holds the record for most World Cup games with 16, one more than Cavani and Godin. All three appeared in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 competitions, with Cavani and Godin also making it to 2022.
With South America looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup, football pundit Sergiu Baltuta takes a look at one of the biggest games in the fourth round of CONMEBOL qualifiers.
Former Atletico Madrid and Uruguay defender Diego Godín has retired from all forms of football at the age of 37.
Former Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa has been named as Uruguay's new head coach.
Ronald Araujo, the talented centre-back of Barcelona, will not be joining Uruguay's squad for their upcoming matches this month due to injury.
Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez has pulled out of international duty with Uruguay due to injury.
Manager Diego Alonso refused to blame his Uruguay stars after they tumbled out of the World Cup.
Giorgian de Arrascaeta scored a brace to secure a 2-0 win over Ghana but failed to stop Uruguay crashing out of the World Cup on goals scored.