Uruguay's Luis Suarez celebrates after scoring his second goal during the 2014 World Cup Group D soccer match between Uruguay and England at the Corinthians arena
Uruguay's Luis Suarez celebrates after scoring his second goal during the 2014 World Cup Group D soccer match between Uruguay and England at the Corinthians arena in Sao Paulo June 19, 2014. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Final Score

Italy 0 Uruguay 1

Overview

The thirty ninth match of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is going to be held between Italy and Uruguay. The Group D match should be quite an interesting contest between the two as the result of this match will decide which team will proceed to the next round and who will get eliminated. After Costa Rica's incredible performance against both these teams, the "Group of Death" has turned out to be a magic box.

Teams

Italy: After Italy's thumping win against England, it looked to be the favourite to finish on top of the group. However, Costa Rica proved everyone wrong. Italy looked to be the weaker of the two in the match. The team that won against England seemed lost. Not only did it lose 0-1 against the South Americans, but also became uncertain for the next round. Furthermore, Daniele De Rossi is probably going to miss the encounter against Uruguay due to a calf injury. Midfielder De Rossi injured himself in the Costa Rica match even though he played for 90 minutes. Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said the team was desperate to bounce back after the loss. It better does or it will have to catch a flight back home.

Uruguay: It is a totally different story for Uruguay which suffered a shocking loss against Costa Rica in its opening match. It had to bounce back against England in a "do or die" match. With a desperate Wayne Rooney in the team, England needed to win this match to stay in the tournament. However, a certain Luis Suárez who had undergone a knee surgery four weeks back had some other plans. The most impressive player in the team later said that he had dreamt of scoring a couple in the England match, and that was what he exactly did to secure a win to stay alive in the tournament. Uruguay will depend heavily on the Liverpool forward against Italy as well.

Head to Head

These two teams played 9 times against each other before. Uruguay won 3, Italy 2, and 4 ended in a draw. Uruguay scored 10 out of total 19 goals between the two.

Key Players

Italy: Gianluigi Buffon and Mario Balotelli

Uruguay: Luis Suárez and Cristian Rodriguez

Date, Time & Venue

Brazil's time zone is UTC/GMT -3. The match starts at 1 pm (local time) on June 24, which means it is 2 am on June 25 in New South Wales, Australia. The match will be held at Estadio das Dunas in Natal.

Prediction

Uruguay and Italy will play desperate football in the match. Uruguay will rise up to the occasion and win it 2-1.

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