Forlans challenge

Curiously Uruguays neighbours have once again stolen its thunder. By crashing out unexpectedly in the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup,Brazil and Argentina have kept the spotlight away from Uruguays fairytale run. The lone South American team left in the fray,they are now the main carriers of that romantic dream that underwrites great tournaments: that anything can now happen.

The Uruguayan defender,Diego Godin,said as much before the start of the tournament. They just needed to get out of the league stage,he claimed,as things can start happening in the knockout rounds. Yet,it is so often forgotten that the Uruguay squad,representing this country of 3,5 million,have a rich footballing history to reach back to. Their manager in the 1966 World Cup,the last time they reached the quarter-finals,said: Other countries have their history. Uruguay has its football. On the strength of back-to-back Olympic golds Paris 1924,Amsterdam 1928,Uruguay won its bid to host the first World Cup in 1930,and expectedly won it. Twenty years later when the World Cup was revived after a 12-year gap on account of the war,they inflicted a defeat on Brazil,hosts and favourites,to take the title in a way that still haunts footballs superpower and its historians. Subsequent years saw a decline Uruguay would sometimes qualify,they would have their stars,but the overall reputation of the team was dominated by aggressiveness.

Now as Uruguay,under Diego Forlan,revive an attractive game,they could look back to that 1924 Olympics for inspiration. Then,they took the game away from Holland in the semi-finals. Uruguayan football has been well-served by new beginnings. But,who knows,this time it may well come full circle for them.