Uruguay will unleash plan B when they take on France in a vital match for both teams in Busan on Thursday.
Coach Victor Pua has bowed to the inevitable.
In the absence of a reliable
right-back, he has done away with the position.
Instead Uruguay will take the field with three centre-backs, a formation with which Pua has been experimenting ever since last year's Copa America in
Adopting the system for this match is something of a gamble - there is the
risk that dangerman Thierry Henry will be able to find space on the flank.
But Uruguay hope to make it difficult for the French to bring Henry into the
game, since their midfield marking will be far tighter than was the case in
the opening game against Denmark.
In comes Marcelo Romero, a lithe defensive midfielder known as "the cat."
Romero is a talisman in case Zinedine Zidane makes a late recovery.
plays his club football in Spain for Malaga, and had two good games against
Zidane when his side met Real Madrid last season.
Pua looks set to stick with the twin strike partnership that failed to click
against the Danes.
Sebastian Abreu, so disappointing last Saturday, is to
be given another chance, though Federico Magallanes stands by in case injury
forces Dario Silva to miss the game.
The key difference this time is that Alvaro Recoba will have four midfielders
behind him rather than three.
With the team more compact it should be easier
for Uruguay to get the ball to the feet of their star player.
Pua lives in
hope that Recoba can hit the heights he reached away to Peru last year.
Pua had taken a look at the three centre-back formation in the Copa America, but
the Peru match was the first time it was used in World Cup qualification.
Recoba instantly looked at home in the new formation.