PREVIEW: Two-time World Cup winners Uruguay face Saudi Arabia | OneFootball

Two-time world champions Uruguay open their World Cup campaign against Group H opponents Saudi Arabia at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

La Celeste were Olympic champions twice before the invention of the World Cup in 1930 by Jules Rimet, running out winners of the inaugural tournament on home soil 96 years ago.

Competing in their sixth World Cup finals, Saudi Arabia are looking to equal their greatest ever performance after reaching the round of 16 in their first ever appearance back in 1994 having failed to make it out the group stage since then.

Walking to the win in 1930, Uruguay then recorded one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history when they beat Brazil at the Maracanã in 1950, changing the entirety of Brazilian football yet also marking the end of Uruguay’s domination.

While Brazil went on to win the competition five times, 1950 was the last time Uruguay lifted the World Cup trophy.

Three fourth-placed finishes and two quarter-final finishes have been the best they’ve been able to manage, unable to capitalise on their golden generation of attacking talents Edison Cavani, Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan.

A group stage exit in Qatar last time out showed that they nation is going through a bit of an identity crisis and under head coach Marcelo Bielsa the same fate could befall Uruguay this time round.

Reaching the finals as one of the top six sides in the CONMEBOL league system, Uruguay didn’t pull up any trees but they got the job done with seven wins, seven draws and four defeats from their 18 games.

However, their qualifying campaign was mired by conflicts and issues in the camp, especially between manager Marcelo Bielsa and legendary striker Suarez.

Both extreme personalities, Suarez was quoted saying the team was ”at breaking point” during qualification and was left out of the final squad which has only put another edge to things.

Former Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez was the countries top scorer throughout the qualifying and he will be crucial to any success the Uruguayans have this summer. He is actually playing in Saudi Arabia now.

Saudi Arabia’s last victory in a World Cup came in one of the biggest recent shocks when they came from a goal down to defeat Argentina who went on to lift the trophy.

Currently managed by Greek tactician Georgios Donis, the Saudi Pro League has attracted mass attention with its huge spending potential and caliber of players at its clubs. Those include Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, N’golo Kanté and Ivan Toney.

Saudi Arabia qualified through the tricky AFC format, which has a total of five rounds for the teams to compete in.

Competing in a group containing Jordan, Tajikistan and Pakistan, the Saudis finished level on points with Jordan but qualified second on goal difference.

They were then placed in a group containing the likes of Japan and Australia in the following round and won just three of their 10 games yet managed to finish third where they qualified ahead of Iraq and Indonesia to reach the finals.

Uruguay will be heading into the finals with a reliant midfield consisting of Real Madrid captain Federico Valverde and Manchester United’s Manuel Ugarte. Their back-line will be made up of Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo and Atletico’s Jose Maria Gimenez.

Saudi Arabia’s homegrown talents have seen their chances and game time dwindle in recent years due to the influx of overseas players arriving in the Saudi Pro League but they still have notable players such as Captain Salem Al-Dawarsi and Musab Al-Juwayr.

The game kicks off at 23:00 (BST) with live coverage available on ITV, ITVX, and STV.

For more detailed reports, reaction, and analysis of the World Cup as it happens, head to our website and favourite our page on OneFootball.