The most heartwarming sight for any football fan during the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2018 was 71-year-old Uruguay coach Oscar Washington Tabarez celebrating Edinson Cavani’s winner against Portugal in the round of 16 match. ‘El Maestro’, as he is called by the football fans, Tabarez who has a ‘chronic neuropathy’ struggled to get on his feet but the moment was full of emotion, passion and his love for the sport. The talismanic figure has been present on the sidelines for as long as one could remember. He has led Uruguay to a Copa America title and to the semifinal of a World Cup and on Friday, is set to lead the side against France in another World Cup quarterfinal.
He is undoubtedly the greatest figure in post-War Uruguayan football history and deserves admiration for successfully managing moody personalities like Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani in the dressing room. During his time with the national team, Tabarez has earned massive respect from players who react with genuine horror at the prospect of a future without him.
The legend has single-handedly changed the focus of his country after taking over in 2006 when his nation had failed to qualify for three of the last four World Cups. He transformed the way Uruguay used to play football and the days of Egidio Arevalo Rio scuttling around midfield harrying anything that moved became a thing of past.
Tabarez brought in Lucas Torreiro who isn’t a big star but a far better ball-player, while the influence of his coaching was clearly visible on the midfield duo of Rodrigo Bentancur and Matias Vecino.
One of the known facts about Tabarez is his obsession with the past. There is hardly a press conference where the 71-year-old fails to recall an example from the last World Cup. He took over the leadership of a country that has a rich football heritage but was struggling for identity and encouraged it to see itself in a different way.
In the end, it all comes to the way Tabarez looks at the game. The most decisive moment in the history of Uruguay football came in 1950 when its captain Obdulio Varela punched Brazil left-back Bigode and gained a psychological advantage in the decisive match of the group stage. Brazil had eventually lost the match resulting in one of the biggest upsets in football history and the term Maracanazo (in Portuguese “The Maracanã Blow”, after the name of the stadium) became synonymous with the match.
But, whenever Tabarez is asked about the incident, he asks how many fouls Uruguay committed in the game. The answer is 11 – a relatively low number for a match where the South American team was accused of relying on physical aggression to hold off Brazil. The wrong lesson, he believes, has been drawn: Uruguay prevailed not because its players kicked Brazil off the pitch, but because it played better football.
One of his biggest influences can be seen on Luis Suarez who has been the centre of attention on many occasions for his reckless behaviour on the field. Four years ago, when the Barcelona striker had bitten Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini in a World Cup match, Tabarez had stood by him and had even defended his player.
This didn’t mean that he supported the act or didn’t take a tough stance on incidents like this. There has been a complete change in approach by the team in this edition of the tournament as they have picked only one yellow card in four games and have conceded just one goal.
The South American nation had arrived in Russia under the radar after their quiet qualifying round. With almost no spotlight on them, Uruguay have done their job with great efficiency. In the months after qualifying, they put together a vision that’s three wins away from turning into an epic reality.
“We know what Uruguay’s reality is. Like the song says, ‘Never the favorites, always the underdogs,’ and that’s something that fills us with pride,” Tabarez said, citing “Descolgando el cielo” (“Bringing down the heavens”), an anthem to the team by Uruguayan artist Pitufo Lombardo, before the game against France.
“The story of this game [against France] might come down to some past presumption, but it will be written by the players on the pitch. We have great hopes of winning this game, and afterward, if that happens, we’ll rest, then prepare for the next one,” he added.
Whether the players manage to find a place in history books or not may depend on the result of the next three matches, but there is no doubt that Oscar Washington Tabarez has surely found his.
