Saudi Arabia and Uruguay shared the points with a 1-1 draw, making Group H all square after the first set of games, with every team on one point a piece.
The first-half was pretty tame from both sides, only managing five shots each, while the only big chance of the half was created by Saudi Arabia.
A set-piece towards the back end of the first half was converted by Saudi Arabia, making it 1-0 just before the break, after a truly uninspiring first half from Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay.
However, after a number of second half changes by the Uruguay head-coach, things massively improved, as Uruguay took 75% of the ball in the second half, taking 22 shots and creating two big chances, leading to their 80th minute equaliser from Maximiliano Araujo.
In this article, we’ll cover
Uruguay’s crazy “3-0-7”
It was an incredibly disjointed first half performance for Bielsa’s side, who’s build up lacked any pace in circulation or central penetration to cause issues to the Saudi Arabia front press.
Manuel Ugarte was dropping between the two central defenders (Mathias Olivera and Sebastian Caceres), forming the three at the base in build up.
Both full-backs (Matias Vina and Guillermo Varela) then progressed further forward, with Vina holding the width on the left for Araujo to drift inside and Varela providing double width with Federico Valverde also out on the right.
The biggest issue was the positioning of Rodrigo Bentancur, who would often drift behind the Saudi Arabia midfield line, creating a disconnect between the build up base and the front seven between the lines.
The advantages Uruguay could create were heavily reliant on the back three creeping forwards under little pressure, before looking to either go direct into the front line or looking for the wide men (more specifically down the left).
Along with the Bentancur positioning issue, Valverde being stuck out on the right touchline which saw very little action in the first half wasn’t ideal, as their star man struggled to get involved in the game.
Abdulelah Al-Amri contribution
Both Saudi Arabia centre-backs were crucial in the goal, as the ball was whipped in by Musab Al Juwayr, with Hassan Altambakti getting first contact and directing it on goal, forcing Fernando Muslera into a save.
But it was Abdulelah Al-Amri who reacted first to the parried save from Muslera, poking it home from a few yards out to make it 1-0 before the break.
Aside from the goal, Al-Amri was also solid defensively, winning three of his four aerial duels which helped to stop Uruguay gaining territory through direct balls down the centre.
Saudi Arabia defended well in their 4-4-2 in the first half, they were not pushed too deep despite Uruguay’s numbers in the front line.
However, the second half followed a different pattern, with Saudi Arabia defending a 1-0 lead and Uruguay making some much needed changes to their in-possession dynamics.
Uruguay second half improvement
At half-time, Bielsa went back to the drawing board, making two changes at the break with Juan Sanabria coming on for Matias Vina and Agustin Canobbio coming on for Nunez.
But it was more about the tactical restructuring from Bielsa at half-time, with Vinas taking Nunez’s role down the middle, Valverde coming more central to operate between the lines and Bentancur’s positioning behind the Saudi Arabia front two on a consistent basis.
Bentancur began to operate more behind the Saudi Arabia front two, receiving the ball in the soft spot between the front two and midfield two, giving Uruguay better progression from deep and connection between their units.
As Uruguay got more control in the game, progressing through the thirds and forcing Saudi Arabia to defend deeper, they shifted into a 5-4-1 shape off the ball, using an injury break with the goalkeeper going down to make those changes.
Mohammed Al-Owais went down around the 60th minute, allowing Saudi Arabia to prepare their change of Al Juwayr to Nasser Al-Dawsari.
With Saudi Arabia dropping deeper and deeper, Uruguay began to create chances around the box, getting crosses into the box and striking a number from distance.
But it wasn’t until the 80th minute, when an inswinger from the left half space found Vinas who managed to direct his header at goal, forcing the goalkeeper into a save which parried back into Araujo’s path to guide it home.
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