When the USMNT and Uruguay meet on Sunday at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, it will mark the eighth time the two nations have faced off. The overall series is split down the middle with a 2W-2L-3D record, the last time the USMNT faced Uruguay it was a 1-1 result with Uruguay’s goal coming from LAFC DP Brian Rodríguez and the U.S. tied via Jordan Morris.
Now both teams are gearing up for the World Cup in Qatar with Uruguay now being coached by Diego Alonso whose last job was coaching Inter Miami in their inaugural season in MLS. Alonso stepped in after the AUF, Uruguayan soccer federation, made the difficult decision to let go of 15-year coach Óscar Tabárez during World Cup qualifying and have been undefeated since Alonso took over.
While linked in many ways the USMNT and Uruguay could not be polar opposites in terms of Soccer history, Uruguay is a two-time FIFA World Champion as well as a two-time Olympic champion. The nation of 3.5 million people has won 15 Copa America’s, while the USMNT have slowly begun to forge their own history by winning seven Gold Cup’s and the Concacaf Nations League. Here are other ways in which Uruguay and the USMNT are indirectly linked.
US Soccer and Uruguay linked through key moments in USMNT history
The USMNT’s greatest World Cup performance came in the very first FIFA World Cup in 1930 held in Uruguay. The Americans would reach the semifinals by defeating Belgium and Paraguay, but would fall to Argentina in the semis. American Bert Patenaude would become the first player to ever score a World Cup hat-trick in the USMNT’s 3-0 defeat of Paraguay in El Gran Parque Central the home stadium of Nacional of Uruguay.
It would not be until the 2002 World Cup where the United States would have a World Cup performance that would match such an accomplishment like 1930. The USMNT made it to the quarter finals in the 02 World Cup, the nation’s best modern day World Cup achievement.
Before embarking on said journey the USMNT played Uruguay at RFK stadium defeating La Celeste 2-1. In 1995 the United States participated in one of their best performances at a national team competition in the Copa America in Uruguay placing fourth. In that tournament the USMNT defeated Chile and Argentina in the group stage, the result against Argentina was historic as it was a 3-0 victory, then in the knockout rounds the Americans would defeat archrivals Mexico on penalty kicks before losing to Brazil in the semifinals 1-0. John Harkes was voted by the Uruguayan press as the USMNT best player of the tournament.
Two Uruguayan Americans were a part of the USMNT 1994 World Cup squad, defender Fernando Clavijo and Tab Ramos, who is arguably one of the most talented soccer players the USMNT has ever had.
At the MLS level the first Uruguayan to score a goal in an MLS Cup final was Adrián Paz in 1997 and from the recent success of Uruguay at the world stage the league signed alumni such as: Nicolás Lodeiro (2 MLS Cups and CCL), Brian Rodríguez, Santiago Rodríguez (MLS Cup), Diego Rossi (MLS Golden Boot), Facundo Torres, Álvaro Fernández (MLS Cup and 2 US Open Cups), and Egidio Raúl Arévalo Ríos.
While on Sunday both teams will write their own history one can’t ignore that indirectly the USMNT and Uruguay have a shared history although they may not know it.
