Oh wow, is it me or... Uruguay is not gonna make it trough the group stage? That just goes to show you never know what gonna happen even if a team has a reputation of being stronger.

Uruguay hasn't been strong since Forlan's prime. Suarez carries that team hardcore, but they're nothing without him.

That being said, I'm always shocked at how bad Cavani is for his country.

Cavani isn't particularly impressive with PSG either, lol.

They're rubbish playing style and criminal agresión is not paying off anymore..

At least Im not going to miss them in the rest of the cup.

Have to agree with everything said above

Uruguay has always played football aggressively, that's their style. I personally like it, you can feel the passion when they play. That being said, Suarez is a key player in their set up. Very sad to see them out of the copa america so early. Love seeing the rivalry between argentina and uruguay. If they won the game today, the next round surely would've been arg v uru.

How is Uruguay bad when they had world class like godin, Suarez, cavani, Jimenez , muslera they're world class

@Fernandinho

Godin and Gimenez shine within the Atletico system, but Godin has never really been that great for his country. Suarez is great when he plays, but he isn't playing. Cavani is borderline useless, only scores PKs or in friendlies. For example, he's played 10 world cup games, and only scored twice, both in games that were already lost. Forlan was 35 in 2014 and still played better than Cavani. Muslera has been going (much like his national team) downhill since 2010.

The international game is funny, you have supposedly world-class players who can't do jack for their national teams and then you have supposedly lesser players usually from lower leagues that dominate whenever they're called upon. The best example I can think of for the latter is Landon Donovan, with people like Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski all being good examples.

SunFlash, did you just say that Landon Donovan dominates whenever he's called upon?

For his national team? Yes.

Okay. (laughs)

Ok, I'm not going to let that dig go. Why do you think Donovan was not good for America? He scored a goal every three games from LM, was the player of the year every year, won individual accolades at the world cup, and never let us down ever.

Just curious as to why you're making something out of this...

I don't know, I just never considered him to be a good player. Certainly not a talent that should be compared to the likes of Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose. He's average at best, and that's how good he always has been when I saw him play for US, and I have seen quite a bit of his games since you know very well that I do live in US.

It's ridiculous, the amount of hype he receives in the United States. They hail him as some conquering hero even though he couldn't even make it at Bayer Leverkusen.

I do agree that he is better for his Country than he has been for his clubs, but still.. it's such a marginal difference that I wouldn't use him as an example to make the point you've made. Klose was an excellent example though.

If you think he dominates when he played for US, really, you and I must have different definitions of the word.

I think half your problem is assuming that the American team is bad. They've been a top-20 team for almost a decade, and have won almost double the games England has at the last four world cups. Sure, they're not a top five team, but they're certainly in the conversation for top-15. The player that got them there was Landon Donovan. We can always debate about how he didn't make it in Germany, people bring that up all the time, and obviously with good reason, but those same people tend to ignore his loans he had at Everton, where he was their player of month during one loan, and had seven assists in half a season during the other. Both times Everton tried to get a full-year loan or even buy him, but he was always committed to MLS so returned for the start of the season in the spring.

Keep in mind, aside from his initial few games for Bayer when he was 19, he never really played for them. He spent three full years on loan for San Jose in the MLS (where he ripped up the league). Bayer just never really gave him a chance again starting him just twice in his two final years there. It's also worth pointing he asked to be transferred back to MLS, where he was actually getting game time, and refused an offer from Portsmouth, (who were still decent then) to do so. Anyone who knocks his time in Germany basically is saying that a 19-year old had a few bad games, was loaned out to a worse league for three years, where he wreaked face, and never was given a chance by the German side again. Not only is that incredibly unfair, it's also illogical. In addition, as I pointed out before, his two half-season loans at Everton proved he could play in a top league, and be the best player on a mid-table team at the same time.

Donovan was never world-class, but he also wasn't "average at best." He was the best player for a over a decade on a top-20 national team, and whenever he took the chance to play at a top team (aside from when he was a 19-year old) he was, again, fantastic. He played out his career in the MLS, where he was so good that the MVP award is now named after him, and although he was offered tons of chances to play in Europe, declined, because he was happy doing what he was doing.

He's easily the best American player ever, and gets a lot of respect from the player community, with people like Pique giving him tons of respect (see: http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2015/05/11/barcelona-spain-defender-gerard-pique-tweets-out-photo-landon-donovan-la-galaxy), not to mention all the invitationals and whatnot he's still invited to that effectively only admit players on the level of Ronaldinho and Van Der Sar. For some reason, maybe even the simple fact he's American, that respect has never been given by the average European fan, who is so snobby about "their" sport they can't comprehend that a player can achieve legendary status through the national team and a lesser league.

To anyone who understands the sport, Landon Donovan was a great player.

@Fernandinho They are a very good team but they still got knock out ot the copa in just 2 game. Thats a pretty bad results. Doesn't take anything from the team quality, but they clearly got something wrong somewhere. The fact that Suarez wasn't playing didn't help for sure.

@Dynastian Agreed, I don't know but I feel like Cavani is a bit overated. He really lack consistence in my opinion.

@Sunflash I haven't seen Donovan play a lot for either his club or his national team but he really seem to be one of the best in both of those from what I seen of him.

@Amerr30 Aw man, why those prejudice against America, I mean, they have a pretty decent team despite not having football as their national sport. :(

@Emo & @Sun:

I'll admit that I'm a little biased. You must understand though that I live in the States, and all I hear is how America is best at everything. They have the 'mightiest' military. The most 'freedom', and etc. They're just so arrogant, so uninformed, so uneducated, so .. fat.

They don't have the most or the best freedom, there's just so many Countries on the planet right now where they offer more freedom. Have rules in place against monopolies, and etc.

Hell, they're not even a democracy. The US is a Republic.

But nothing gets to me more than hearing them talk about 'soccer'. How the 'American spirit' will find a way to be the best, how they'll eventually win a World Cup. I just, I know.. this has nothing to do with Landon Donovan.

And truth be told, he is the best talent US has ever produced. However, being the very best in your own Country does not mean that player is automatically some great footballer. Because he's not, I've never seen him do anything that actually awed me in any way shape or form. He's always played average at best. He doesn't have anything. Passing, dribbling, speed, finishing.. in every single aspect, he's average. Just because he's surrounded by players that are less than average is the only reason why he looks good playing for US.

We don't have to make a federal case out of this, Sun. Let's agree to disagree. I just think that London Donovan was a wrong example to use there.

I do agree with you about Americans. They are the most ethno-centric asshats the world has seen since the Victorian British. On the other hand, all those qualities you mentioned, spirit, belief, etc, America has those in spades. If the American public as a whole ever began to care about soccer, they would be among the best, no question. They have the money, athletic culture, and potential facilities in place, they would buy the advice of European and South American coaches, and they'd be a world power. America's problem is that they only care once every four years. Landon Donovan made them care. Do yourself a favour and watch this:

Sums up his contribution pretty well imo.

And I do have to somewhat agree with you about his talent level. He never was world-class, and in terms of talent alone, he probably was average. The thing about Donovan is just that he cared that much more than everyone else.

That goal is in the 92nd minute in a 0-0 game that sent America to the knockout stages, (a group they finished above England in, ironically). That tap-in is at the culmination of an 80-yard sprint at the end of the game. Outside of a few select players in the world, no one makes that run, and that goal is not scored.

To me, that's Landon Donovan. That's why he's a legend, and that's why he deserves all the praise he gets. That's why I think he's the perfect example for what I was originally trying to say. Maybe not the best player, but come time to play a big game for your country, and there he is.

@Sunflash Really great passion for a player that doesn't play in one of the "best" teams of the world. Thanks for sharing. And I agree with Amerr you should agree to disagree. ;)

@Amerr Americain does get a bit annoying with their patriotism.