Uruguay vs Saudi Arabia FIFA World Cup 2018 – Lineups, Predictions & Stats Preview 20 June 2018
Uruguay will try to seal their place in the last 18 round of the 2018 World Cup against Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Lead by Luis Suarez and Edison Cavani, the Uruguayans are not likely to let slip of the 3 points and will send The Green Falcons home.
Uruguay Probable Lineups and Stats
Tabarez is likely to retain the on-form Galatasaray Fernando Muslera in the goalpost. His preference to the 4-4-2 formation allows the retention of Lazio’s Caceres, Atletico Madrid’s Diego Godin and Gimenez (the goal scorer) and Valera in defence. With the plenty of talent within the midfield, the master-pass Betancur and the wonderkid De Arrascaeta have a great chance to start. The remaining two slots will be filled by either Inter Milan’s Matias Vecino, Arsenal bound Lucas Torreira, Carlos Sanchez, Christian Rodriguez and Nahitan Nandez. Tabarez idea of re-arranging the midfield improved dominance which gave them the upper hand in their opening game.
Uruguay’s first choice attack is spearheaded by the talismanic duo of Barcelona’s Luis Suarez and PSG’s Cavani. The duo shares 74 goals between them, making them the deadliest striking force in the competition.
Saudi Arabia Probable Lineups and Stats
The Green Falcons should review their attack approach owing to their first defeat in the tournament but will retain their goalkeeper, Al-Mayouf. Pizzi’s 4-1-4-1 formation allowed misunderstanding amongst attacking midfielders. Despite their superb ball control, they piled pressure on the defensive midfield. Basing on their opponent’s 4-4-2 formation and attack, the best approach would be 3-5-2.
In the 3-5-2 formation, their line-up would be Al-Hilal’s Osama Hawsawi as the central defender, with Al-Shahrani on the left and Al-Berik on the right. Omar Hawsawi and Otayf will sit deep in defensive midfield with Al-Dawsari on the left. Hattan Bahabri should start in Shehri’s place and move to right flank. Al-Faraj will maintain his position while Al-Jassim moves forward to help Al-Sahlawi in the attack. This will open up the striking force to compliment the ball possession.
Uruguay v Saudi Arabia – Head to Head
These two have only met twice on international friendlies, with Uruguay winning one and a draw. Whereas Uruguay are 2 times World Champions, finished 4th place 3 times, quarterfinals once and the round of 16 thrice, Saudi Arabia best performance was in 1994 where they reached the round of 16. In the next 3 consecutive Tournaments, they were eliminated at group stages, with the 2002 edition being their least favourite. Each team brings something different; The Green Falcons bring ball control while the Sky Blue brings the attacking football.
Expert Tip
With a review of the facts and results of the Uruguay – Saudi Arabia match, the favourite in this game is surely Uruguay, and we agree with this bookmakers’ decision as the underdogs showed a very poor performance against the hosts. Saudi Arabia has been thoroughly disappointing and is easily the weakest team seen in the tournament so far. Their defence flopped and was unable to hold on to the ball in the midfield. They are up against arguably the best team in Group A on Wednesday and could surrender to another humiliating defeat.
The Uruguayan army made many mistakes in attack after Luis Suarez made unforgivable misses, moreover, he will try again to find the net of the opposing team. Another interesting fact is that the average yellow cards in this amazing contest are 4.52 cards, therefore we can expect to see Over 3.5 cards, but we don’t think so, our recommendations for this one is to play Under 3.5 yellow cards. Another very interesting market we can offer is Under/Over Corners. Saudi Arabia, in the previous game, did only two corners, while the South American team has reached five corners, accordingly, our expectations are Under 9.5 Corners.
Interesting Facts and Information
- Uruguay have a winning streak of 4 matches.”/>
- Saudi Arabia have lost 4 games in a row.
- Uruguay have kept a clean sheet in 4 games in a row.
- Uruguay wins 1st half in 30% of their games, Saudi Arabia in 26% of their games.
- Uruguay’s recent performance is better than Saudi Arabia’s.
- In World Cup, Uruguay has better performance than Saudi Arabia.
- Their last meeting ended with a draw. (1-1)
- Uruguay scores 2.25 goals when playing at home and Saudi Arabia scores 0.64 goals when playing away (on average).
- When Uruguay leads 1-0 at home, they win in 100% of their games.
- When Saudi Arabia leads 0-1 away, they win in 50% of their games.
- When Uruguay is down 0-1 home, they win 100% of their games.
- When Saudi Arabia is down 1-0 away, they win 0% of their games.
- Uruguay have scored at least one goal for 5 consecutive games.
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