This afternoon’s World Cup quarter-final clash between Uruguay and France is a hard one to judge. On paper, France arguably have a better team player for player.
However, Uruguay have a rock solid defence and a strike-partnership in Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez that is the envy of the world. When on song the 31-year-old’s are hard to stop, as they complement each other perfectly.
Cavani has scored three times in Russia, while Suarez has also scored twice at the finals. Unfortunately, for La Celeste, Cavani is struggling for fitness ahead of the big clash.
The striker scored a brace to help Oscar Tabarez’s team beat Portugal 2-1 in the last round. When he plays as he did against Portugal, he looks as close to a complete striker as any forward could be.
With the game set to be tight, the presence of such a quality striker could be the difference for the South American giants. His absence would be a blow for La Celeste and a big boost to France’s hopes of progression.
If the forward fails to recover in time to feature, then Uruguay will look to their defensive solidity to make it through to the semi-finals of the competition.
La Celeste have conceded just once in their four games at the World Cup, as Oscar Tabarez’s team have one of the best defences in the competition
The likes of Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez make the South American’s very difficult to break down. However, France have a number of highly talented attacking players in their team, such as Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann.
This clash should be a fascinating one. However, the absence of the influential Cavani will definitely give Les Bleus a significant advantage in making it to the semi-finals of the competition.