Uruguay

Confederation: CONMEBOL (South America)
Head coach: Oscar Tabarez
Captain: Diego Lugano
Group: A

Two time World Cup winners Uruguay will travel to South Afica, after taking the last place in the South American qualifiers. An inconsistent qualifying campaign left them having to do battle with Costa Rica in the playoffs. The Uruguayans have some excellent talent in their ranks. Most notably, their strikeforce would leave many teams envious. In Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez they will have opposition defenses fearing the two hitmen. Forlan, who broke Fulham fans' hearts by scoring a brace in the Europa Cup final, will join Suarez in attack and between them, they have scored 33 goals for Uruguay.

Defender and captain, Diego Lugano is a very solid centre-half and will prove tough to breach at the finals. Central midfielder, Walter Gargano will operate as an enforcer type role in the heart of midfield. Gargano is an all round midfielder, good on ball and can also get stuck in if needed.

Speedy winger, Nicolás Lodeiro is definitely one to keep an eye on this summer. Pace, good technique and a danger from free-kicks are all attributes the Ajax man posses. Uruguay find themselves in group A, which on paper, is a difficult group. However, I'm tipping the Uruguayans to reach the second round and surprise a few people.



Squad:

Goalkeepers: Fernando Muslera (Lazio), Juan-Guillermo Castillo (Cali), Martin Silva (Defensor Sporting)

Defenders: Diego Lugano (Fenerbahce), Diego Godin (Villarreal), Andres Scotti (Colo Colo), Jorge Fucile (Porto), Martin Caceres (Juventus), Mauricio Victorino (Universidad de Chile), Maximiliano Pereira (Benfica)

Midfielders: Walter Gargano (Napoli), Egidio Arevalo-Rios (Penarol), Sebastian Eguren (AIK Stockholm), Diego Perez (Monaco), Alvaro Pereira (Porto), Alvaro Fernandez (Universidad de Chile), Ignacio Gonzalez (Valencia), Nicolas Lodeiro (Ajax)

Forwards: Sebastian Fernandez (Banfield), Luis Suarez (Ajax), Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid), Sebastian Abreu (Botafogo), Edinson Cavani (Palermo).

Watch France v Uruguay(6th June) on flashsportstreams.com/forum/

Ant Myers