FIFA World Cup 2014 Predictions: Match #23 Uruguay vs. England
Final Score
Uruguay 2 England 1
Overview
The twenty third match of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is going to be held between Uruguay and England. The Group D match should be interesting as both Uruguay and England know that a loss in this match will possibly ruin any dream of securing a place in the "group of 16" by winning this match. With both teams having lost one each, expect fireworks on the field.
Teams
Uruguay: Uruguay was a part of the first shocker of the tournament as it lost to Costa Rica which nobody hardly had any faith in. What the match did was that it cracked the table open for all four teams of the "Group of Death." The way Uruguay performed was shocking for many. You can either call it "just a bad day" for a brilliant team or ring the alarm bell for Óscar Tabárez's team. Even though striker Edinson Cavani was the first one to score against Costa Rica, it conceded too many goals. Uruguay is too good a team to let its fans down. However, a lot of improvement is required in a very short period. Diego Forlan has apparently taken the defeat against Costa Rica sportingly. He said that Uruguay could still win the next two and progress.
England: England lost its first match too. However, it lost against mighty Italy in spite of playing well. Wayne Rooney was instrumental in scoring the only goal it scored in that match. If he did not miss another at an important time, the score line could have been very different. Roy Hodgson indicated that Rooney might be moved back down the middle for the next match. England will be desperate for 3 points from this match. Any other result will leave its dream of qualifying for the next round to tremendous uncertainty. Captain Steven Gerrard, on the other hand, said that England's pace would cause serious problem for Uruguay.
Head to Head
These two teams played 10 times against each other before. Uruguay won 4, England 3 and the other 3 ended in a draw. Uruguay scored 13 goals and England 10.
Key Players
Uruguay: Diego Forlan and Edinson Cavani
England: Wayne Rooney and Ross Barkley
Date, Time & Venue
Brazil's time zone is UTC/GMT -3. The match starts at 4 pm (local time) on June 19, which means it is 5 am on June 20 in New South Wales, Australia. The match will be held at Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo.
Prediction
As Rooney admitted, this will be a "do or die" match. It is true not only for England but for Uruguay also. Uruguay will forget about the last defeat and win it 3-2.
Group Predictions
Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E, Group F, Group G & Group H
Reference: FIFA
Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au