Uruguay coach warns France his team are fired up

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez warned France Thursday his team was focused, calm and determined to win their opening World Cup game.

The South Americans enter the tournament on the back of a narrow play-off win over Costa Rica but bubbling with confidence with what is regarded as a talented and maturing squad.

“My team is very enthusiastic and confident and I think we are in the right place at the right time. We are also cool and calm,” said Tabarez.

“We know where we are at present, we know what we need to do and we know how to capitalise on our skills — we need to play well, defend well and use the ball intelligently.”

Tabarez has already named his team to face the French at Green Point Stadium here on Friday with defender Mauricio Victorino and midfielder Egidio Arevalo Rios surprise choices.

Victorino, who plays in Chile with Universidad de Chile, replaces Andres Scotti of Colo Colo, also in the Chilean top flight, and Arevalo Rios from Penarol takes over from Walter Gargano of Napoli in a 3-4-1-2 formation.

Star striker Diego Forlan from Atletico Madrid will be partnered up front by Luis Suarez, who scored 35 goals for Ajax in the Dutch championship last season.

The experienced Tabarez, a former AC Milan coach, said he was confident of getting three points against a French team troubled by poor form and criticism at home.

But he is also wary of the 1998 champions.

“The France squad has great footballers but they been having difficulties,” he said.

“They have very good defenders, they never throw in the towel and they also push forward, which confirms that they will be very difficult opponents.

“But I think we can also make life difficult for them.”

The World Cup offers another chance for Uruguay to relive their glory days. They collected the 1930 World Cup and repeated the feat in 1950, but have rarely made an impact at the global showpiece since.

This time round expectations at home are not high and the coach is keen forget about the past.

“Our aim is to win this match not because we want to be vindicated historically,” he said.

“We just want to show that this team can do a good job on the pitch and we want to put Uruguay in the place it deserves.”

Asked if Uruguay could be one of the two teams to qualify from a group that also includes South Africa and Mexico, Tabarez was non-commital, saying it was one of the most open groups in the tournament.

“I think in this group, each team has potential to qualify and each runs the risk of being eliminated. That’s how I see it,” he said.