After losing to 3-1 to Chile in matchday 12 of the CONMEBOL World Cup qualification rounds, Uruguayan manager Oscar Tabarez remarked that the most important part of the performance was his team’s mental strength in tact. With just six matches left in qualifications and Uruguay solidifying second place with 23 points, it was the side’s first loss in four matches. The numbers represent what we’ve come to know from a contemporary Uruguayan team: a stingy defense (they’ve given up 11 goals) and an incisive counter attack (they’ve scored 24 goals, good for second highest behind Brazil). What’s even more impressive is that after a decade and 139 matches as Uruguay manager, the 69-year-old Tabarez is still able to inspire his squad while remaining tactically relevant at the same time. 

Tabarez’s decade of managerial stability is a telling contrast from his rivals: first place Brazil have had four managers in that same span before finally settling into form under Tite. Argentina are on their sixth manager in 10 years, with Paraguay on their fourth manager. Colombia are on their sixth. Chile’s recent stylistic transformation has come at the expense of five managers in that same span. And in displaying Tabarez’s depth and experience, he’s managed 13 teams previous to his current job, from Uruguay to Argentina to Colombia to Italy, including a previous two-year spell with the national side from 1988 to 1990 (the well traveled journey is also reminiscent of Tite). 

Chile presents an interesting parallel to Uruguay in Tabarez’s last decade. Both sides revamped their style from the youth team on up and found international success through their focus on player development. When the aptly nicknamed “The Teacher” took over in 2006, Uruguay had failed to qualify for three out of the previous four World Cups. His first order was to restructure the talent pool in a uniquely Uruguayan way. With a “talent donut” affecting the domestic league, promising players were given lessons on the history of the national team before moving abroad, thereby emotionally tying them to their home team.

Tactically, Tabarez was first dogmatic about a 4-3-3 formation. But as what often happens with philosophers of possession, feedback comes in the form of a lack of results, and pragmatism shines through. Here, Tabarez presents an interesting point of view in assembling his team: he begins from a foundation that Uruguay are not as individually talented as their opponents, and seeks to get results from that platform. As he explains in an interview with Martin Mazur of The Blizzard, Uruguay are not Barcelona. While specifics depend on their opponent, his fundamental concept is to limit their opposition attacking opportunities. 

Whether lined up in a 4-4-1-1 (which Uruguay used to beat Paraguay in the 2011 Copa America final) or a 3-5-2 formation (which he rolled out in the 2010 and 2014 World Cup), the difficulty of breaking down a Tabarez side begins with their combativeness in midfield. If there is one player who embodies Tabarez’s ideas - making up for a lack of skill with commitment and intensity - it would be Arevalo Rios. The defensive midfielder has 0 goals in 81 caps for Uruguay. He’s played for 15 clubs in his 16 year career, never leaving the Americas. Yet Tigres manager Ricardo Ferretti described Rios as a “not an idol, but an example of what a player must be”. Tabarez relies on this professionalism to bridge the gap in talent. Others have noted the spirit and emotion of unfancied players like Diego Perez and Sebastian Abreu in overcoming superior sides.   

Of course, it helps to have Luis Suarez leading counter attacks. Outside of Suarez at Barcelona, Cavani at PSG, and captain Diego Godin at Atletico Madrid, Tabarez complements his stars with role players from across the world. Other lineup stalwarts include keeper Fernando Muslera at Galatasaray, center back Sebastian Coates at Sporting, Monterey midfielder Carlos Sanchez, Fiorentina’s Matias Vecino, and Gaston Silva at Grenada, all of whom started against Chile. In their 2-1 win against Ecuador the previous week, Tabarez relied on Cristhian Stuani of Middlesbrough and Diego Rolan of Bordeaux to complement Suarez in attack, with Rolan’s goal tying the score in the 62nd minute. Like Portugal, Uruguay develop players largely for Europe - but they always return when needed. 

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Luis Suarez has reached the level where we are so accustomed to his brilliance that we take it for granted. We can measure his impact for Uruguay in the simplest way: he has 47 goals in 90 matches. But there is also Suarez’s impact on the shape of the how a team plays. Often overshadowed by Neymar and Messi at Barcelona, his role for Uruguay reminds us how dynamic he is as the focal point of an attack. Originally starting his career as a right sided forward, he may stake a claim as the finest false nine in the world.

Uruguay’s success going into and at the 2018 World Cup relies upon him more than ever (he’ll be 31 years old by then). Suarez lead the line with 23-year-old Diego Rolan and 30-year-old Cristhian Stuani against Ecuador before being reunited with Cavani against Chile, which also displayed Tabarez’s tactical flexibility in moving from a 4-5-1 to a 4-4-2 depending on available personnel. Their chemistry was on immediate display against Chile - in the first five minutes, with Suarez playing furthest forward, he created three chances for Cavani. In the 17th minute, Suarez stole a backpass and assisted Cavani’s goal as Uruguay took a 1-0 lead.

Tabarez will once again seek to find a style complementing both players as opposed to compromising aspects of each other’s game. A 4-4-2 with Cavani and Suarez is the simplest way of getting the duo on the field, or perhaps the answers lies in a return to a 4-3-3 with Suarez cutting in from the wings with Cavani closest to goal. Yet going back to the emphasis on team unity, both players are stringent in their workrate and defensive responsibilities, and this problem is not the type to tear apart a team’s shape for the sake of attack. Rather, it’s a debate of positioning nuance in getting both players where they operate best: Cavani making darting runs closest to goal, and Suarez playing anywhere he finds space.

South America is regarded as the toughest of World Cup qualifications. As Argentina, Chile and Colombia battle for the fifth spot currently held by Argentina, the final six matches next year figure to reach a crescendo in intensity and controversy both on and off the field. And as other sides try to find short-term solutions, Uruguay have discovered success through Tabarez’s steady hand, defensive and midfield intensity, and match winning moments that can only be provided by Suarez’s combative instincts.