World Cup 2018: Uruguay vs Portugal - 3 battles that decided the game

Edinson Cavani's brace and Lucas Torreira's outstanding performance in midfield inspired Uruguay to victory over Portugal in Sochi to set up a World Cup quarter-final clash against France.

With the game kicking off just hours after Argentina and Lionel Messi were sent packing by Didier Deschamps' men, the spotlight was then on modern football's other superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal side that looked to start afresh after an unconvincing performance in the group stage.

However, it was the menacing duo of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani that drew first blood, the latter superbly heading home from Suarez's fierce cross after Cavani himself set his partner on his way with a diagonally long pass.

Portugal equalised soon after the restart, Pepe taking advantage of a rare lapse in the Uruguayan defence to evade his marker and glance a header from fullback Raphael Guerrero's cross past Fernando Muslera.

It needed just 7 minutes for Uruguay to restore their lead and there was no one better than Cavani to provide the goods, expertly curling in from the edge of the 18-yard area after being set up by Juventus' Rodrigo Bentancur.

Portugal strived hard, but in a defence led by Diego Godin, clear-cut chances were always going to be hard to come by and that turned out to be the case, with the referee blowing the full-time whistle to Uruguayan tears of joy.

We witnessed many minor battles and we dissect three such that were pivotal to the South Americans winning the war in Sochi:-

#3 Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez trump the Portugese defence

Will the Cavani-Suarez partnership take Uruguay all the way?

The anticipation of watching the dangerous duo of Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez complement one another was well worth the wait, as the PSG and Barcelona forwards wasted no time in unlocking the Portuguese defence and giving the Uruguayans the lead. While Suarez kept testing the centre-halves by driving into any pocket of space available, Cavani played the ideal finisher’s role by his movement around the box and posing as a crossing and passing option.

Both attributes were utilized to devastating effect less than five minutes into the game. Suarez received an excellent flank-switching lofted pass from his partner. The 31-year old did brilliantly to create space on the left flank before delivering an inch-perfect cross for an unmarked, free-sprinting Cavani to head past a hapless Rui Patricio. The fatal mistake of not being aware of Cavani’s run towards goal was made by young left-back Raphael Guerrero, whose eyes were focused on Suarez, rather than the PSG man who came in from behind.

The game progressed with the duo winning headers from goal-kicks – Cavani using his height and Suarez using his physicality- and constantly exploiting spaces unforgivably left in between centre-halves Pepe and Jose Fonte, who had to resort to desperate tackles to snuff out the attack.

Cavani eventually stole the show, curling a first-time shot from Rodrigo Bentancur's pass from the edge of the box into the far corner, out of reach of a diving Patricio.

A partnership that was long overdue to blossom at the World Cup – majorly due to Suarez’s suspensions – finally seems to be thriving at their peaks and critically, in a knockout fixture against the European Champions.

#2 A compact, Godin-led Uruguayan defence frustrates Portugal

Godin(right) was instrumental to his side keeping the lid on Portugal

Uruguay hadn’t conceded a single goal in the group stage of the tournament and the reason was evident from Uruguay’s high-class defensive organization, commanded by none other than their most-capped player, Diego Godin. The veteran centre-half, who has been the gem of Diego Simeone’s style of play at Atletico Madrid for so many years now had quite evidently induced that mentality into the South American outfit, giving the Portuguese zero space to work their way into the box.

Bar Pepe’s goal where the ex-Real Madrid man used his experience to skin his marker to rise highest to nod home a Raphael Guerrero cross, Uruguay closed the European Champions down with relative ease and never looked on the verge of falling apart despite one-way traffic in the dying stages as Portugal were chasing an equalizer.

Out of 20 shots on goal for Portugal, only 6 were inside the box – a measure of how uncompromising the Uruguayan defence were as Portugal were forced to resort to strikes from long range, as weaving their way into the box turned out to be a near-impossible task. Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez were often seen tracking back in order to intercept a forward pass, such was the desire of Oscar Tabarez’s side to hold on to their lead.

Ronaldo has still not scored in a World Cup knockout round

Portuguese talisman Cristiano Ronaldo was himself subdued – he was well and truly quelled by some excellent double, sometimes even triple man-on tactics each time the ball fell at his feet. His only shot on target was a second-minute long-distance shot that was easily swallowed by Fernando Muslera, even though it came at pace at the Galatasaray keeper.

The organization at the back, the ease at which the offside trap was laid and the never-dwindling loss of concentration from the Uruguayans was a treat to watch for the traditional football fanatic.

#1 Lucas Torreira’s energy shuts out the Portuguese midfield

Torreira has been linked with a move to Arsenal in the summer

For a team to go all the way in the World Cup, it needs intensity in a midfield, a player or two who can volunteer to do the running across midfield for 90 minutes and win back possession at any cost against a promising attack, or a counter. The Uruguayans found their volunteer in young Lucas Torreira, who – apart from the Suarez/Cavani partnership – deserves to be singled out as one of the game’s outstanding players.

It started as early as in the fifth minute when he brushed aside Cristiano Ronaldo of all players to thwart a break. The Sampdoria man, heavily linked with a move to Arsenal post the World Cup, had made his mark.

Torreira made 4 clearances and blocked 4 Portugal shots

He would continue to grow in confidence, intercepting passes and putting his body on the line to challenge the Portuguese midfielders in possession. The two Silvas, Bernardo and Adrien, were constantly in the face of the 22-year old, whose energy and enthusiasm at Sochi was very resembling of what N’Golo Kante brings to the French outfit.

A crawling header to prevent an on-rushing Portuguese player from getting a shot away was a risk Torreira was willing to take, as long as it contributed to his country making it to the last-8 of the World Cup. France need to find a way to out-think an Uruguayan midfield backed by Torreira’s assured presence.