Uruguay: Nigeria Match Is Our Final

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez is bracing for a bruising test against Nigeria in the FIFA Confederations Cup on Thursday.

The South Americans lost their opening game to world champions Spain, but Tabarez says in the overall scheme of things, that was never expected to be the decisive game.

“For us, we have always known that the decisive match will be the second match against Nigeria,” he says. “If we beat them we can advance. If we lose we are out. So for us it’s a final tomorrow (today, Thursday).”

Tabarez named his starting team 24 hours before the game, even as he conceded that Nigeria’s pace on the offensive would be dangerous.

“We analyzed the game against Namibia and Tahiti. They are very fast, very speedy and play very direct football. And when they start running, they are very dangerous”

“Therefore we believe that this will be a hard match in a decisive game for each of us in the series.”
Nigeria top the group after their 6-1 win over Tahiti.