Octopuss Paul may have other plans but I see La Celeste as a clear favorite given that the Panzers don’t see the 3rd place as meaningful whereas Uruguayans will always play with heart, passion and dedication no matter what the stakes are.

Yes, the cup will be taken home by Euros, but Uruguayans especially, and South Americans in general have notting to feel bad about in this cup. It was truly awesome to witness all 5 South American nations advance from the group stage. Then Chile was given tough cookies by having to face Brazil, which has dominated the Chileans strongly in recent times. Then it was Brazil itself, and Argentina, our reginon’s eternal giants, who had to take hard knocks on the chin and bow out. But those two have had recovered from worse throughout history and no doubt will do so once more when the time comes.

La albirroja pretty much mirrored La celeste with all the fighting spirit and dedication they put in their games and it took the undisputed best team in the world playing at the top of its game to send them home. Bravo Paraguay, and you even gave us Larissa Riquelme to top it all!

And then was La Celeste, what more can I say? What a perennial source of pride and inspiration. Teams like Uruguay are what make this sport worth watching for. Uruguayans have made football worth loving again. South American style football, that is. Down here we play with heart, with talent and to our last breath. What a great cup to be South American. We will acknowledge, congratulate and recognize whoever wins it all on Sunday. But no one will be able to take this joy away from us. No one.

South American Pride. Always.
Luis Suarez, Forever Hero.

I will NOT appologize as no Uruguayan should. And if you come to this blog looking for an appology then you’re certanly wasting your time. Go back to your cuddly “neutral” blogs to read nice things about your fantasy sport where everybody is prince charming and this game is played with white gloves. This certainly NOT the game of Uruguay. Uruguay plays with passion. With everything they got. But I guess you have to be South American to understand it. “You play as you live”, a coach once said.

After the rant, let me just ask a very important question I found on another blog: what would you do? What would you have done if your team was facing certain elimination in a WC quarterfinal and your only chance to prevent it was to handball a shot coming into your goal as a field player?

Now let’s see if all the hypocrites calling Suarez a cheater can come up with anything better than their rosy, unrealistic, goody-two-shoes arguments about it.

Meanwhile, i’ll just give a SHOUT TO THE URUGUAY NT!! WHAT A GREAT VICTORY!! You now carry the hopes and the dreams of the South American continent and we are inmensely proud of you! Vamo’ la Celeste for the ultimate victory and bring the cup to La Republica Oriental del Uruguay!

All Hail Luis “The REAL hand of God” Suarez, hero of the XIX FIFA WORLD CUP!!! Our prayers are with you and we hope you score the goals on Sunday to take the cup home. Because in case anybody is out of sour grapes, here are some more to chew: Suarez only got a one-match game. So he’ll be ready for the final. Way to go Luis!!

There. I said it.

If you’re looking for a Spanish language liveblog of the game, then go to Esteban’s Liveblog en Español Uruguay-Ghana.

Uruguay defender Diego Godin has been ruled out of the World Cup quarter-final clash with Ghana on Friday as coach Oscar Tabarez named his starting XI.

Godin suffered a thigh injury during the 2-1 victory over South Korea in Saturday’s second round triumph and was forced out of the action at the interval.

Tabarez will again turn to Mauricio Victorino to deputise in Godin’s absence, after he stepped off the bench and performed well against the Asian outfit.

Tabarez is unsure if Godin will even be fit for a place on the bench, but admitted: “We still have 48 hours.

“He is not fully recovered. He is not in the team because in my opinion he is not 100 per cent fit.”

The coach of the South American outfit will make one further change to his starting XI, with Alvaro Fernandez coming in for Alvaro Pereira in midfield.
Starting XI

Fernando Muslera, who has been beaten just once in four games, starts in goal behind a back four of Maxi Pereira, Diego Lugano, Victorino and Jorge Fucile.

Diego Perez, Egidio Arevalo and Fernandez make up the midfield with Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan and Edinson Cavani operating as an attacking trio.

Uruguay, who lifted the World Cup in 1930 and 1950, finished fourth in the 1970 showpiece but failed to qualify for five of the nine tournaments since then.

They are favourites to progress to the last four of the tournament in Friday’s clash at Soccer City in Johannesburg where either Brazil or Holland will await.

Tabarez, nicknamed ‘The Master’ from his previous career as a schoolteacher, added: “We are calm. But we know the important thing is the match, not how we feel today.”