MX23RW : Thursday, April 18 22:52:22| >> :600:1824293:1824293:
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Attendance: 58,679
Uruguay national football team
World Cup | Group Stage
Jun 14, 2014 at 8pm UK
 
Costa Rica national football team

1-3

Cavani (24' pen.)
Pereira (90+4')
FT(HT: 1-0)
Campbell (54'), Duarte (57'), Urena (84')

Preview: Uruguay vs. Costa Rica

Sports Mole takes a closer look at Saturday's Group D opener between Uruguay and Costa Rica.

Uruguay will be looking to make the best possible start to their World Cup campaign when they take on Group D underdogs Costa Rica on Saturday evening.

Meeting each other in Fortaleza before Italy and England face off later on the same night means that the winner of this clash will be sitting comfortably at the top of the group.

Uruguay, considered dark horses by many ahead of the tournament, are looking for a similar campaign to the one they enjoyed in South Africa four years ago, when they reached the semi-finals before being knocked out by the Netherlands.

Luis Suarez's fitness has dominated the headlines throughout their build-up to the competition, and doubts still remain despite the Liverpool forward training with the rest of the squad this week.

If Suarez is prevented from playing to prepare for the matches with England and Italy, the South American side will be relying on the partnership between Edinson Cavani and Diego Forlan.

Despite being considered as the outsiders in the group, Costa Rica are likely to approach the match with positive intent as Jorge Pinto looks to utilise attacking duo Bryan Ruiz and Joel Campbell.

Pinto's side enjoyed an impressive qualifying campaign, finishing behind only the USA in the CONCACAF group which included a number of memorable displays.

Recent form

Uruguay: WLWDWW

Costa Rica: LLLLLD

Possible starting lineups

Uruguay: Muslera, Pereira M, Lugano, Godin, Caceres, Ramirez, Arevalo, Gargano, Rodriguez, Cavani, Forlan

Costa Rica: Navas, Mora, Gonzalez, Duarte, Umana, Diaz, Borges, J Cubero, Ruiz, Campbell, Urena

Sports Mole says: 4-1


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Group A

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Q Netherlands Netherlands32107
Q Senegal flag Senegal32016
3 Ecuador flag Ecuador31114
4 Qatar Qatar30030

Group B

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Q England flag England32107
Q United States USA31205
3 Iran Iran31023
4 Wales flag Wales30121

Group C

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Q Argentina Argentina32016
Q Poland Poland31114
3 Mexico Mexico31114
4 Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia31023

Group D

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Q France France32016
Q Australia Australia32016
3 Tunisia Tunisia31114
4 Denmark Denmark30121

Group E

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Q Japan Japan32016
Q Spain Spain31114
3 Germany Germany31114
4 Costa Rica flag Costa Rica31023

Group F

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Q Morocco Morocco32107
Q Croatia Croatia31205
3 Belgium Belgium31114
4 Canada Canada30030

Group G

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Q Brazil Brazil32016
Q Switzerland Switzerland32016
3 Cameroon flag Cameroon31114
4 Serbia Serbia30121

Group H

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Q Portugal Portugal32016
Q Republic of Korea South Korea31114
3 Uruguay flag Uruguay31114
4 Ghana flag Ghana31023


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