Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez performs during his team’s training session at Arena do Yacare stadium in Sete Lagoas, Brazil. (EPA)
Uruguay are still sweating on talismanic striker Luis Suarez’s fitness for the World Cup, but are otherwise in better shape than in South Africa four years ago when they reached the semi-finals, players said on Wednesday.
“Honestly, I think we are better. We have been together practically eight years, we have been through a lot,” midfielder Diego Godin told reporters at the Uruguay camp in a resort in rolling hills at Sete Lagoas near Belo Horizonte.
“We are ready for the good and the bad,” added the 28-year-old Atletico Madrid midfielder, one of about a dozen players with coach Oscar Tabarez since his second tenure began in 2006.
Uruguay famously upset hosts Brazil to win the 1950 World Cup, and again sprung a surprise in South Africa to reach the last four.
But their preparations for Brazil have been disrupted by Suarez’s injury to his left knee at the end of a scintillating Premier League season with Liverpool.
Suarez trained lightly this week at Sete Lagoas, smiling and joking with teammates, and said in a video via Twitter his knee was going “very well”.
But he is a doubt for at least the Group D opener against Costa Rica, a game Uruguay bank on winning before facing tougher rivals England and Italy.
“Luis is fine, he is on a good track (to recovery),” added Godin, himself recovering from the disappointment of Atletico Madrid’s Champions League final defeat by Real Madrid.
“I hope he can be there for the first game. This (injury) happened and he is doing the best he can to come back. I do not know if he will be on the pitch or on the bench or whatever.”
Though clearly aspiring to repeat their South Africa success, Uruguay’s players were keeping their feet on the ground in public, saying all the focus right now was on Costa Rica.
The Central Americans are considered the minnows of Group D, but Uruguay struggled in the end to qualify - only reaching Brazil via a playoff - and England and Italy have not been on the greatest form in warmup games.
“Costa Rica is a rival who has nothing to lose. We have to be concentrated so we’re not sloppy,” said holding midfielder Egidio Arevalo Rios, 32, who plays for Mexican club Morelia.
Expectations for the tiny South American nation of just 3.4 million people - less than one 50th of Brazil’s population - have, though, soared since their fourth-place finish in 2010 and Copa America win the following year.
“We were the surprise in South Africa. Now people expect more because of that, and because of the Copa America, and what we have all been doing at our clubs,” added Godin.
“But I’m not going to say we are dreaming of the final because right now we are only thinking about Costa Rica.”