Uruguay vs. Spain: Marcelo Bielsa's team dare not lose in order to stand a chance of World Cup progression

Ahead of Uruguay's 2026 World Cup clash with Spain, Sports Mole's Football Editor Matt Law discusses the South American nation's chances of success.

Matt Law, Football Editor: 'Two points is very unlikely to be enough'

You don't want to be taking on Spain needing a result, and two points is very unlikely to be enough.

There are so many different permutations with just one round of games left, and some of them are incredible. 

The lack of invention from Uruguay hits the nail on the head. They haven't won a game since October, and that was against Uzbekistan. 

Their last two wins have been against Uzbekistan and Dominican Republic, and before that they had to go all the way back to last September. 

It's been draws recently, though pre-tournament they were quite good when they drew 1-1 with England. 

The lack of a top-drawer forward is the real issue: when you think about Suarez, Cavani, Forlan, these were players who always came up with big moments. 

Federico Vinas has been the one they've turned to so far. 

I watched him in Spain on loan at Real Oviedo last season, where he scored nine goals for a side that were by far the worst team in the league. 

But if you're relying on a player like that, he played through the middle last time out by himself and really found it difficult. 

He was one of the lowest-rated players, and when you watch the game you can usually tell if someone is doing well, and he was really struggling. 

Darwin Nunez is there, but there is talk around his future at club level, and he's not exactly the most prolific player for his country: 13 goals in 40 games. 

A lot of people thought Uruguay would get through the group stages quite comfortably, and people would have been quite shocked if you'd said they were going to go out in the group stage. 

The strength of their squad: Valverde is a world-class midfielder, but Ugarte has had a real struggle at Manchester United. 

Spain will go strong in this game, and that's not what Uruguay will want. If they lose, Uruguay are in real trouble in terms of getting through to the next round.