Suarez gives Uruguay the victory over France

Posted on June 6, 2013 by SoccerPunter

France slump to their second loss in international friendly match after Luiz Suarez scores the winning goal for Uruguay.

Suarez was a half-time substitute for Diego Forlan, made an immediate impact by scoring the winning goal just five minutes after coming on.

There was little to play for in a match played largely at walking pace and both teams did not field their regular players.

According to SoccerPunter H2H stats, France have never beaten Uruguay in the past. Whereas Uruguay had four draws and a win against France before this encounter.

In an error-strewn opening spell, neither side threatened a real breakthrough as cautious defending held sway and wary forays from midfield were quickly snuffed out.

However, the French slowly gained the upper hand and it took an acrobatic save from Fernando Muslera in the Uruguay goal to deny Dimitri Payet on the half-hour as the Lille striker let fly with his left foot from the edge of the area.

Muslera had to be alert as the French began to string moves together and more than once had to get down sharply and commit himself to avert the danger, saving first at the feet of Olivier Giroud and then holding another Payet shot.

But having briefly come to life, the first half petered out tamely without the deadlock being threatened, as it had not been in the four previous meetings between the two countries.

Yet it only took five minutes of the second half for unsettled Liverpool striker Suarez to open the scoring.

Ramirez sent Maxi Pereira away down the right and the full back threaded the ball into Suarez in the area. He wriggled his way past Mangala to steer his shot beyond Mandanda.

The introduction of the lively Ramirez and Suarez had brought the game to life and the Uruguayans pressed forward for a second with Mandanda in action to deny Suarez again and Edinson Cavani in quick succession.