Uruguay’s chances at the World Cup 2018
Uruguay will be showing up at the 2018 World Cup in a pretty optimistic and confident mood of having a deep run in the tournament. They have landed themselves a favourable group stage draw so that will give them a good chance of finding their feet in the tournament. Four years ago in Brazil, Uruguay did make it out of the group stage before falling at the hands of Colombia in the round of 16. Will the South Americans be able to go a step further on this occasion as they had to Russia in the summer?
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Uruguay will be able to boast one of the most feared attacking duos at the tournament and their strike force along with gritty, dogged defence does afford them the chance of making a good impression. They do remain as one of the big outside contenders at 33/1 odds at bet365* (betting odds taken on May 20th, 2018 at 7: 16 p.m.) to get their hands on the title. But they are one of those sides who the big guns in the field will be happy enough avoiding.
Visit Bet365Uruguay World Cup 2018 Fixtures – Group Stage
Uruguay were drawn in Group A for the World Cup 2018 which pits them against host nation Russia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. So there are certainly not any real tough challenges ahead for them in the group stage and you would expect them to handle themselves pretty well given the level of opposition that they are up against. Uruguay’s opener is on Friday, June 15 when they take on Egypt who will have Liverpool’s Mo Salah leading the line for them.
Uruguay are odds-on favourites to win the opening match of their campaign because they are well versed in defence and should be able to keep the African nation’s main threat quiet. A confident start there will increase their chances of landing top spot in the group. They are likely to follow that up with a success in their second match which is against tournament rank outsiders Saudi Arabia is on June 20.
Then Uruguay can do damage to the host nation’s qualification hopes as they face up against Russia in the final round of group stage action. The South Americans are favourites to win the match against the Russian side who haven’t produced any form for some considerable time now. Uruguay are 11/10 odds bet365* (betting odds taken on May 20th, 2018 at 7: 16 p.m.) to win Group A.
Uruguay and Russia have met just once before which was in an international friendly back in 2012 and that played out to a 1-1. The South Americans have met Saudi Arabia twice before and actually remain winless against them in their two previous friendlies. Uruguay lost 3-2 in their first meeting in 2002 and then there was a 1-1 draw between them in another friendly in 2014. The only previous meeting between Uruguay and Egypt was in a 2006 friendly which the South Americans won 2-0.
It will be all-important for Uruguay to top out the group because that would most likely mean avoiding Spain in the first knockout stage. The two qualifiers from Group A go up against a qualifier from Group B which houses Portugal, Spain, Morocco and Iran. The worst-case scenario of course would be ending up meeting Spain. But with Uruguay projected to win Group A that would most likely mean they take on reigning European champions Portugal in the round of 16. If they were to get through that then things become even harder as they would likely have to meet France in the quarter-finals and then potentially Brazil in the semi-finals.
Uruguay Stage of Elimination
So looking at all of that we can assume that Uruguay will get past the group stage. Back them to get past the round of 16 and then the most likely outcome for them, therefore, will be a quarter-final exit which is 7/2 odds* (betting odds taken on May 20th, 2018 at 7: 16 p.m.) to happen. It really is a bit of a toss-up between that and them going out in the previous round. Again it will probably all depend on whether or not they manage to win their group. They will probably end up going up against Spain if they don’t win the group, but South Americans should have enough to get past what would likely be a challenge from Portugal if they do.
Uruguay Top Goalscorer
And here is where the clear threat of Uruguay can be seen. Uruguay have Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez available for 5/4 odds joint-favourites* (betting odds taken on May 20th, 2018 at 7: 16 p.m.) in the Uruguay World Cup 2018 top goalscorer market. They both have tremendous scoring records for the country and no one else is going to get in on the picture for them. In the World Cup 2018 qualification campaign it was Edinson Cavani who finished as the outright top goalscorer in the CONMEBOL zone.
Outright Odds* for the World Cup 2018
Brazil 4/1, Germany 9/2, Spain 6/1, France 13/2, Argentina 9/1, Belgium 11/1, England 18/1, Portugal 25/1, Uruguay 33/1, Croatia 33/1, bar 40/1* (Betting Odds taken at 5:27 p.m. on May 16th, 2018)
Predictions
The firepower that Uruguay have should see them through comfortably in the first round action, and because we see them winning their group would also see them taking out Portugal in the round of 16. Like Portugal, they are a tough side to bring down but they can pack more of a punch going forward. Consider then the 7/2 odds bet 365 on a Uruguay quarter-final exit* (betting odds taken on May 20th, 2018 at 7: 16 p.m.).
