Uruguay bar media ahead of Bafana tie
by Thomas Kwenaite 15 June 2010, 00:19
Another national side competing in the 2010 Fifa World Cup™ seems to be showing signs of shot nerves as they barred the media from their training camp on Monday.
First it was the Japanese, who refused to interact with the media on arrival in Bloemfontein. Then on Monday, Uruguay, who is scheduled to face Bafana Bafana in their second Group A match in Pretoria on Wednesday, also barred the media from their training ground in Kimberley on Monday.
With the aim of getting footage of their warm-up session at least 15 minutes before the start of a real work-out, which is permitted by Fifa, Uruguay refused point black to allow a crew from www.supersport.com from entering the Kimberley rugby ground and instructed the police to keep us out.
Although they did not officially say it to us, some of their supporters who had traveled from Cape Town where the team played to a goalless draw against France at the Greenpoint on the same Friday that Bafana were held to a 1-1 draw by Mexico, revealed jokingly that we “were there to spy for Carlos Alberto Parreira".
“Why else would you come this far?” one Uruguayan supporter asked. “Maybe you want to take pictures and then send them to Parreira. We can assure that Uruguayans have been treated exceptionally well here in South Africa and the people are very accommodating and very warm, but we are going to beat you 1-0.
“We also adore and worship Nelson Mandela, but we will forget sentiments on Wednesday and perhaps even give you a 3-0 beating, because scoring against Bafana is the only way to silence the drone of the vuvuzelas, which can be very intimidating. We also blow vuvuzelas in Uruguay, but the South African version is different.”
It must be remembered that South Africa has met Uruguay once before, at the Fifa Confederation Cup staged in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during 1997, after Bafana Bafana had become continental champions a year before when they snatched the African Nations Cup trophy.
It was an unbelievable seven goal thriller won by the South Africans 4-3 after Bafana had opened the scoring through an unlikely source -- Lucas Radebe. Uruguay leveled through Silva a minute later and snatched the lead through Recoba and then increased their lead through Silva.
The gallant South Africans staged a steady come-back, first reducing the deficit through Helman Mkhalele and, while the South Americans appeared rattled, Pollen Ndlanya drew level for South Africa in a breathtaking 3-3 stalemate. A lapse in concentration allowed Callejas to grab a last gasp winner in the 90th minute.
Memories of that incredible fight-back must be at the back of the Uruguayans' minds as they prepare for a game they know they cannot afford to lose. At the same time they are acutely aware that they have a mountain to climb against the yellow tide from the home side supporters at the Blue Bulls stronghold on Wednesday.
Uruguay never really got out of first gear against France in Cape Town and need to come up with something special to beat the home side, who showed character when they weathered a heavy storm against a rampant Mexico and even forged ahead, only to conceded when least expected.
As they barred the media at their Kimberley base, it was clear that they were leaving nothing to chance and intend on working on the kind of strategy they believe will confuse Team Parreira on Wednesday evening in Pretoria.