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Godin, Uruguay look to stop Ronaldo as Madrid rivalry comes to World Cup
SOCHI, Russia, June 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The man who has marshalled the
best defence in the World Cup so far will relish the task of trying to stop
his old foe Cristiano Ronaldo when Uruguay and Portugal meet in Sochi on
Saturday.
The Madrid derby comes to the shores of the Black Sea in the last 16 with
Uruguayan captain Diego Godin, of Atletico, and his club team-mate Jose Maria
Gimenez coming up against Real and Portugal’s five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
It will be a fascinating battle at the Fisht Stadium with Ronaldo, at 33,
enjoying his best World Cup but Uruguay the only side to come through the
group stage in Russia without conceding a goal.
Godin is an expert at keeping clean sheets, as the leader of an Atletico
defence that is the most formidable in the European club game — they kept 34
in all competitions last season — and of a Uruguay side that has not
conceded a goal in 2018 in six games.
Ronaldo, though, has already scored four times at this World Cup, including
a hat-trick on his last visit here when Portugal drew 3-3 with Spain. That
means he has 85 international goals, more than any other male European player
in history.
In the last two years, he has scored two hat-tricks for Real against
Godin’s Atletico, having also emerged victorious in two Madrid derby
Champions League finals.
– More in their locker –
But the rugged and brave Godin, who needed reconstructive dental surgery
after having three teeth punched out in an aerial challenge with Valencia’s
goalkeeper earlier this year, has succeeded in muzzling Ronaldo on plenty
other occasions at club level going back almost a decade.
“God¡n is a star. He defends, commands, scores goals, wins titles, and does
not miss a game,” said Diego Maradona recently.
On Saturday, Gimenez — who scored Uruguay’s late winner against Egypt —
is set to rejoin Godin in central defence after missing the 3-0 victory over
Russia due to injury.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, will look to get back among the goals having had a
penalty saved in Portugal’s 1-1 draw with Iran. That, and the VAR-awarded
late spot-kick for the Iranians, condemned the defending European champions
to this tie rather than a meeting with the hosts in Moscow.
Portugal surely would have preferred that, for while Uruguay continue to
produce tough centre-backs, they are by no means completely reliant on them.
This is a side with excellent, Italian-based midfielders in Rodrigo
Bentancur, Lucas Torreira and Matias Vecino. And up front they boast two of
the greatest goal-scorers of their generation in Luis Suarez and Edinson
Cavani.
Suarez might lack the same sharpness of old, but he has still scored twice
in Russia. One more and he will equal 1950 World Cup-winner Oscar Miguez’s
Uruguayan record of eight goals at the tournament.
– Overachievers –
“They are a typical South American side,” said Portugal coach Fernando
Santos.
“It’s not just in this World Cup that they have not been conceding goals.
It has been like that for the whole of 2018. Oscar Tabarez is the longest-
serving international manager. That means he has a very strong relationship
with his players.”
These two countries with a combined population of 13.5 million have long
been overachievers on the international scene — the last decade under
Tabarez has seen two-time former winners Uruguay reach one World Cup semi-
final and win one Copa America, while Portugal triumphed at Euro 2016.
And the Uruguayans hold their opponents in equally high regard, conscious
that Ronaldo is supported by younger talents like Bernardo Silva and Goncalo
Guedes.
“We will mark him with the same respect we mark everyone, despite him being
a superstar,” said Sebastian Coates of Ronaldo. “You don’t prepare a match
just looking at one player.”
BSS/AFP/MRI/0849 hrs