Uruguay looks to counterattack vs. Senegal

Updated: Saturday June 08, 2002 09:49 a.m. ET

CHEONAN, South Korea (AP) -- Staring World Cup elimination in the face, Uruguay hopes a counterattacking strategy can help it past Senegal on Tuesday.

"If we go into the game as we did against France -- disciplined, very focused -- we will do fine. We have to be very tight in our half and then look to hit them on the break," defender Paolo Montero told reporters after a training session.

Uruguay, at the bottom of Group A alongside world champion France with one point, needs a two-goal win against Senegal to guarantee advance to the second round. The Africans, atop the group alongside Denmark on four points, need just a tie to advance.

A 1-0 win may be enough to put Uruguay through, though that depends on the result of the France-Denmark match, scheduled at the same time as the Uruguay-Senegal game.

If Uruguay wins 1-0 and France beats Denmark 2-1, Denmark would advance, while France and Uruguay would be level with the same goal difference on four points and lots would be drawn to decide who advances.

A 3-2 win for France and a 1-0 triumph for Uruguay would put France and Denmark through. But if France wins by two goals against Denmark and Uruguay wins by a goal, then Uruguay and France progress.

Uruguay coach Victor Pua took charge of the team's training session Saturday, having the players practice their offensive play by pitting one attacker against up to four defenders.

"The idea will be to keep the ball, to have it as much as possible and make as few mistakes as possible," Pua said, saying this will be key in the midafternoon heat.

The game is scheduled at 3:30 p.m. (0630 GMT) in Suwon's World Cup stadium.

In recent days, temperatures in Suwon have soared to around 30 degrees Celsius (86 F) at that time of day.

As usual, Pua did not announce the lineup but he did signal there would be few changes, saying, "The team that played against France is the base."

That would mean a lineup of Fabian Carini in goal, Alejandro Lembo, Paolo Montero and Gonzalo Sorondo in defense, Marcelo Romero, Gustavo Varela, Pablo Garcia, Alvaro Recoba, Dario Rodriguez in a five-man midfield and Abreu and Dario Silva up front.

Pua also said he expected a tough game.

"This is a difficult, strong rival where all the players can defend and all 11 can score," warned Pua.

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