Tabarez: Uruguay showed fight

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez was pleased with side’s hard-fought 2-0 victory over Slovenia in an international friendly on Wednesday.

Tabarez’s men concluded preparations for the FIFA World Cup, triumphing against Slovenia thanks to goals from Edinson Cavani and Christian Stuani at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo.

Uruguay still lacked that spark and energy that fans and pundits have become so accustomed to in the presence of Luis Suarez, who is attempting to be fit to play in Group D, in which the South American country will face Italy, England and Costa Rica.

But Tabarez insisted his team are on the right track for the upcoming showpiece event

“When they ask me what will happen with Uruguay, Uruguay will give fight, and today we saw a team that fought,” he said.

“They weren’t teams that qualified for the World Cup, Northern Ireland and Slovenia, but they are good teams, they came and made good defensive matches.

“In the first half, both of them had more shots on goal than us, but it’s part of everything to try to turn the game, and that is why they are warm-up matches, and I think we achieved that.”

One player that has impressed in Uruguay’s past two games is Stuani.

The Espanyol striker netted the winning goal against Northern Ireland on Saturday and he made an impact off the bench again with Uruguay’s second goal in their win over Slovenia.

Tabarez said the performances of some of the team’s fringe players provided a welcomed headache ahead of their World Cup opener against Costa Rica on June 14.

“These games have allowed me to see many players, many possibilities,” he said.

“Now we have to work hard on the final phase of the preparation and try to get close to the first eleven that we define will be the one that will start the first game.

I can’t say which will be Uruguay’s campaign, we are going to work thinking in our first game, then the second one, and so on.”