Education City Stadium will play host to Friday's FIFA World Cup game between Uruguay and Korea Republic. The game kicks off at 12:00 am with Uruguay heading into the game as favourites with the bookmakers. Continue reading for our in-depth preview of the Uruguay vs. Korea Republic game and give you our free tips and bets.

When: Friday November 25, 2022 at 12:00 am

Where: Education City Stadium

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For the first time since 2004, Uruguay head into a major tournament without Oscar Tabarez in the dugout – a 15-year love affair in which he led his nation to three consecutive World Cup finals coming to an end last November.

Stepping up in place comes 47-year-old Diego Alonso, whose 11-year managerial career has brought Concacaf Champions League glory to two different clubs and whose early work with the national side shows plenty of promise.

His first task with La Celeste was to rescue a faltering World Cup qualifying campaign and he achieved that in style, ending a run of four consecutive defeats to win all four qualifiers in which he was in charge.

Indeed, Alonso’s reign has been nothing but encouraging so far and Uruguay should make a winning start against South Korea.

He has collected seven clean sheets in recording seven wins, one draw and one defeat – a September friendly featuring an experimental backline – and has restored hope among supporters that La Celeste can again upset the odds to go deep into the World Cup.

That will involve a fine balancing act of phasing out a celebrated old guard whose age is starting to outweigh their experience.
Veterans Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani, Diego Godin, Martin Caceres and Fernando Muslera have carried the national side for years, but are all now aged either 35 or 36.

To discard such talent and knowhow would be foolhardy but to retain them all would create vulnerability against athletic opponents, but thus far Alonso has struck a fine balance.

He has, of course, been greatly helped by the quality available to him – the level of which is remarkable given it is drawn from a population of less than 3.5million.

Up front, Liverpool 23-year-old Darwin Nunez brings physicality alongside one of Suarez or Cavani and in midfield Uruguay are blessed with an elite threesome – Real Madrid mainstay Federico Valverde, Tottenham’s classy passer Rodrigo Bentancur and Matias Vecino of Lazio provide variety and flexibility.

Alonso’s opposite number, Paulo Bento, is not so fortunate.

The Portuguese manager led South Korea through World Cup qualifying with the minimum of fuss, but his position is under scrutiny after a series of underwhelming performances against the better sides in friendly matches.

Two heavy defeats to Brazil might be expected – albeit not 5-1 on home soil, as was the case in June – but a pair of 3-0 defeats to Japan since last March and a 3-2 loss to Mexico have led to a feeling that it is no good routinely outclassing minnows in qualifying if the team capitulates against any opponent of World Cup finals standard.

While Bento has a handful of players plying their trade at a decent level in Europe, his options are limited.

However, it doesn’t help that Bento has brought his preferred passing style to a squad shaped to provide the quick, counter-attacking approach favoured in South Korea.

It would be hard enough for South Korea to outclass Uruguay when playing to their strengths, but if they play to their weakness and try to out-pass La Celeste, they could quickly find themselves outclassed.

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