Game 22 Recap: Uruguay 2-1 England

URUGUAY 2-1 ENGLAND

Wayne Rooney broke a 10-game World Cup finals scoring drought but it was not enough as England were defeated by a familiar foe from their Premier League season.

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez may have to deal with even more boo-birds then he's used to when he returns to Liverpool next season after notching a brace in his first game back from surgery. It gave Uruguay a must-needed victory and likely means England will miss out on their first knockout round since 1994, a tournament they didn't even qualify for.

Both teams looked to put pressure on the weak opponent back lines early on in this match. Uruguay in particular pressed their top 3 or 4 players very high up the pitch to force turnovers. This exposed them on the back though and they nearly paid for the high pressure in the 10th minute. Diego Godin committed a handball just outside his own area and Wayne Rooney's free kick froze Fernando Muslera in goal but curled just outside the post.

Rooney would miss an even better chance later in the first half as he got a head to a corner kick from about a foot away from goal but mistimed his jump and sent the ball caroming in to the crossbar and out. That's when Suarez put his stamp on the game.

Already having threatened to score with a curling corner kick at the near post, Suarez hooked up with an Edinson Cavani lob pass to head past Joe Hart for the 1-0 Uruguay lead. Suarez was elated and immediately went to celebrate with the trainers who got him fit to play in this World Cup.

Rooney's scoring woes continued in the second half. The ball fell straight to him on a cross but his shot from point-blank range was directly at Muslera who did well to stop it regardless. Then in the 75th minute, Rooney finally got the giant weight of having never scored in a World Cup finals off his back.

Racing up the right wing, Glen Johnson took a feed from Daniel Sturridge and deftly slipped past the Uruguay defence. No one on Uruguay defended the low cross and Rooney tucked it home from the front of goal, breaking his personal scoring drought and giving hope to the English contingent in the stands.

But who else but Suarez could dash any hope for England. A horrendous blunder by England captain Steven Gerrard played the ball directly to Suarez who was behind the English defence. Suarez controlled the ball before firing home for the 2-1 Uruguay lead and victory.

Scary moment in the early second half as Uruguay defender Alvaro Pereira was knocked out by a Raheem Sterling knee and was out on the pitch for a while. Even more frightening was that Pereira, who resembled a punch-drunk boxer went back on the field without anyone stopping him from either FIFA or the Uruguay team. That protocol absolutely has to be reviewed. With all that is known about head trauma and injuries in sports nowadays, that Pereira was allowed to continue playing with no concussion test done was criminal.

Goals

Uruguay: Luis Suarez (39' 85')

England: Wayne Rooney (75')

Discipline

Uruguay: Diego Godin (Yellow 9')

England: Steven Gerrard (Yellow 68')

Man of the Match

Who else? Less then a month off of knee surgery and questionable if he would even play today, Luis Suarez looked like his usual self and scored twice to crush England hopes against a squad full of his club teammates in Liverpool. Even got a friendly assist from club captain Steven Gerrard to ice the game.

Key Moment

Tied 1-1 late in the match, Fernando Muslera launched a long clearance downfield. Steven Gerrard mistimed his headed clearance and flicked it back straight to Suarez who was in an offside position but played in by the English captain. Suarez put everything in to his shot from the area, blowing it past Joe Hart and in to the English net to give Uruguay the win.

What we learned from Uruguay

If Luis Suarez can continue performing like he did in this game then they'll be just fine. More impressive though was the performance of their defence. Despite 2 new starters on the back line, Uruguay was compact and organized in the back with plenty of support from their midfield. It frustrated England greatly and was enough to pick up the win.

What we learned from England

This defensive line is NOT ok. Burned time and again by the speed of Uruguay and too often losing track of where their men were. Not much they could do about the 2nd goal, they played the offside trap on Suarez but Gerrard missed the clearance. But the first goal was a 2 on 4 situation. 3 guys went for Cavani on the ball leaving just Jagielka to cover Suarez. Jagielka lost track of where Suarez was and that's as easy a goal as Suarez will ever score.

Going Forward 

England on the brink of elimination and Uruguay not out of the woods yet either. Need to play the waiting game and see what happens today with Italy-Costa Rica. Uruguay will need to take points off of Italy in their last game to advance. How many is yet to be seen.

For England, it's known exactly what has to happen. They're Italy's biggest fans as they need them to beat both Costa Rica and Uruguay. If that happens and England defeats Costa Rica then the way tiebreakers shake out, they should be able to grab second by the skin of their teeth.