Rodrigo Bentancur was one of the best performers for Uruguay in the country’s first World Cup match. A 0-0 draw with South Korea won’t have been the result desired, but the Tottenham player put in a good performance in midfield.
Spurs fans won’t have been surprised to see their man doing well, especially after his performance in the 4-3 victory over Leeds United, just before the break for Qatar 2022 started.
This evening, Uruguay face Portugal in what is expected to be a tough match for both countries. Just like he did against South Korea, Bentancur is expected to play a deeper role than he does for his club, making it more difficult to repeat his goalscoring Leeds performance.
Bentancur believes his deeper position has worked, and he’s quoted by Gol Caracol as saying: “More than anything it was to be able to make a quicker and cleaner start. It was not achieved. Because we could not play a fast game from behind. It is not my Tottenham position, but I feel very comfortable playing anywhere and more for our team.”
Despite that, the Spurs player does feel Uruguay lacked a little because they didn’t have midfielders able to break the lines of the opposition.
Uruguay aren’t being talked about as one of the favourites for the competition, but that is something Bentancur is quite happy with, believing it allows them to go under the radar: “We always respect all our rivals and the less said about Uruguay, the better for us. As is sometimes said, slowly because of the shadows is the best way to avoid attracting attention. Always with humility, respect your rivals and go out to play as equals. The previous World Cup we did very well, then the qualifiers cost us a bit, now it was not the desired start. We are going to give our best.”
That has to start tonight against Portugal.
