Forlán’s new Uruguay recovers its smile

After becoming one of the great disappointments of the last World Cup, Uruguay He recovered his smile on the tour of Asia that closed this Tuesday with two wins and one loss and that excited the fans who are already looking to 2030 with a thirst for revenge.

With Diego Forlan as interim coach, the Celeste fell 3-1 against Japan In a duel that was defined with two scores after 90 minutes, they beat 1-4 against South Korea in a match marked by the return of their attackers to the goal and crushed 1-6 India with the debut of footballers who are beginning to earn a place.

The Argentine cycle Marcelo Bielsa It came to an end in the worst possible way: just two victories in the last ten games, only eight goals scored and with Uruguay becoming one of the 16 eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup.

Changing the face was mandatory for a team historically accustomed to being the protagonist in the most important tournaments. Even without a replacement for the Argentine officially named, the Uruguayan Football Association sealed the arrival of Forlán to the sub-20 with the mission of taking the team to the World Cup that it won in 2023 and did not play in 2025. Added to this work was that of leading the major league for the moment.

Accordingly, the tour of Asia became the first challenge for the former Villarreal and Atlético de Madrid striker, who called up 26 footballers. Among them appeared references such as Ronald Araujo, Darwin NúñezMathías Olivera, Giorgian de Arrascaeta and Rodrigo Bentancur, as well as new talents such as Santiago Mouriño, Juan Rodríguez, Facundo Bernal or Martín Satriano.

“We have players with a lot of variety, good feet, scorers, defensively good. We feel lucky to have a good variety of top-level players,” said the technical director before the first of the three friendlies.

Their debut against Japan was a heavier defeat on the scoreboard than what happened on the field. Goals from Kento Shiogai in the 92nd minute and from Ayase Ueda in the 96th minute gave Hajime Moriyasu’s team the victory in a duel that until the 90th minute was tied at one goal per side.

Forlán opted for a double ‘9’ which had Darwin Núñez and Federico Viñas looking for a goal that the Uruguayan attackers had not found for a long time.

The last attackers to convert had been Viñas himself and Rodrigo Aguirre in the 3-0 victory against Peru on the penultimate date of the South American World Cup qualifiers. Then, all the scorers called up went 990 minutes without scoring.

And although that streak was not broken against the blue samurai, it was broken in the 1-4 win over South Korea that marked Forlán’s first victory as a coach and in which Darwin Núñez scored two goals.

After these two litmus tests, the Celeste faced India in a game in which the coach had a squad depleted by injuries and other problems.

Giorgian de Arrascaeta, Mathías Olivera, Sebastián Cáceres and Martin Satriano missed the last game due to different ailments. The last two left the tour without adding minutes and the first did so by once again displaying on the field a talent that the World Cup missed due to an injury.

Brian Rodríguez could not play either, although in this case it was due to a problem with his passport.

Beyond this, Uruguay won 1-6 in a match in which Maximiliano Araújo showed that he is an indisputable piece of the team, in which Darwin Núñez was able to celebrate again and in which Juan Rodríguez and Thiago Cardozo They put on the light blue one for the first time.

With two victories, goals from their attackers and at various times good team play, the South American team recovered the smile that the World Cup had erased.

The next Copa América and the World Cup which will be played one hundred years after Montevideo received the first in history are the next missions of a team in which new talents continue to germinate.

At the moment with Forlán leading the team, La Celeste started its path in a good way and – of course – wants to continue smiling.