Luis Suarez made a triumphant return to the pitch with two goals, including the game winner, as Suarez singlehandedly eliminated England from the World Cup tournament. For England, the pure bright spot was Wayne Rooney’s first goal in eight years of World Cup play.
Suarez dealt the deathblow to all of the United Kingdom with two goals in the game, while simultaneously restoring hope to his home country Uruguay.
Rooney, who was rumored to not even be starting in this game, lifted the monkey off his back with the equalizer in the 75th minute.
Before kick off the locals in Brazil were calling this game “o Jogo dos Desesperados” or “The Game of The Desperate” as both teams are former World Cup Champions and the loser of the match would be eliminated from this year’s tournament.
Luis Suarez made the start for Uruguay in this must win game. Early on it seemed like Suarez was not 100 percent back to his elite form as he moved gingerly and tentatively around the pitch. Nonetheless, England was determined early not to test his skills.
Surprisingly for Uruguay, star Diego Forlan, who was expected to start alongside Suarez and Edinson Cavali to form a formidable Uruguay offensive attack, was held in a reserve role, most likely as a weapon for Uruguay coach, Oscar Tabarez off the bench in case Uruguay found themselves down to England early.
Rooney had an excellent opportunity to score on a free kick at the 9’ mark when his shot slowly drifted to the left of the goal. Off his foot it looked good.
Luis Suarez had a ball in at the 25th minute, that could have been something, but English goalie Joe Hart made a leaping save to keep the match scoreless.
Rooney had a great opportunity in the 31st minute off a corner kick. Captain Steven Gerard sent the ball inches away from the far right post, but it was a hair too high as Rooney’s header bounced off the cross bar.
In the 38th minute, Suarez reinvigorated the hopes of a nation by scoring off a header. “He’s back!” proclaimed the ESPN announcers. After an English turnover in the middle of the pitch, Cavali was given the ball in space on the left wing just outside of the 20". His pass to the 6" was a beauty as Suarez was easily able to gently head the ball past the outstretched right arm of English goalie Joe Hart.
After the goal, you could feel the tension and pressure increase within the arena as England began to play with more urgency to score the equalizer.
The two teams went into the locker room at halftime with Uruguay up 1-0. The twenty-minute break between the halves must have been agony for the Three Lions as they knew they were 45 minutes away from going home for the first time ever in the first round of group play.
On a positive note for England, the last time the two teams played internationally in March of 2006; England was also down 1-0 at the 45-minute mark, only to come back with two goals in the second half to win the match.
The fans in attendance were in for a surprise in the second half as most people believed Uruguay would sit back on their 1-0 lead and park the bus with Suarez still hurting and Forlan not in the game. They were wrong. Uruguay came out hungry for that ever so important second goal in the second half with intense offensive pressure on the brittle English defense.
Uruguay had a few amazing chances to score a second goal and put the game away, including a corner kick that was inches away from crossing the line but was saved at the last minute by English goalie Joe Hart who started the play severely out of place on the shot.
Rooney thought he had the equalizer with a shot from point blank range in the 54th minute. Rooney’s left footed shot from the centre of the box was denied by a great save from Uruguay’s goalie Fernando Muslera.
In the 63rd minute, England finally made a substitution to try and spark the Brits into scoring the equalizer. Young British star in the making, Ross Barkley came in for Raheem Sterling.
The equalizer finally came in what will be known throughout the United Kingdom as the moment of redemption in the 75th minute when for the first time in World Cup history, Wayne Rooney scored a goal. The goal game off a Glen Johnson cross into the box that just squeezed through the legs of the Uruguay defenders. Rooney wisely kissed it into the net off his left foot not his right for the goalie was directly in front of him.
The arena erupted with delirium as English supporters breathed a collective sigh of relief as their hero and countrymen, finally broke through the proverbial World Cup barrier.
The momentum changed after Rooney’s shot and England spent the better part of the next ten minutes attacking in the La Celeste zone.
But it didn’t last long as one of the greatest striker’s on the planet, made his impact on the game in the 84th minute. He buried a strike from right outside the box that found the back of the net. Suarez celebrated, but immediately was substituted and given treatment on his surgically repaired knee.
The final whistle blew minutes later as Suarez had placed the dagger into the hearts of English fans throughout the globe. For England, they next play Costa Rica on June 24th in their final Group D matchup. While technically not mathmateically eliminated, they are all but guaranteed to be going home as they will now sit at the bottom of Group D with zero points and last in goal differential as well.
For Uruguay, their World Cup dreams are restored as they now sit in either second or third in group D depending on the results of the Italy and Costa Rica match on Friday.
Game Notes:
England has now scored in their last nine consecutive world cup matches. Wayne Rooney's scoreless minute streak ended at 760 minutes of World Cup play. With the loss, England has lost their first two games of the World Cup for the first time ever. It marks, English Coach Roy Hodgson's 4th straight World Cup game. Uruguay had two targets on goal, both of them Luis Suarez, both of them goals. Efficient. With two goals today, Suarez has now scored five times in seven World Cup appeareances. With the win today, Uruguay ends a 15 game losing streak to European opponents.
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