In an international friendly played in Montevideo, Uruguay categorically defeated Panama. It was 5-0 for the sky blue team, whose game this Saturday was a farewell to their audience, before whom they will no longer perform before the Qatar-2022 World Cup.
The locals won quite easily thanks to Cavani’s double, at 38 and 48 minutes (the second penalty) and goals by Nicolás de la Cruz (57′), Maximiliano Gómez (66′) and Diego Rossi (78′). .
Before, at halftime and after the match, there was a party with a series of musical numbers, and during the match all the sky-blue soccer players available entered the field, applauded by the more than 40,000 spectators who attended the Centenary despite the intense cold.
Some could not be in the game: due to injury, stars such as Luis Suárez, the Uruguayan team’s all-time top scorer, defenders Diego Godín and José María Giménez and midfielder Rodrigo Bentancourt, as well as the young promise Agustín Canobbio, missed out.
Darwin Núñez, the 22-year-old striker from Peñarol who has just been transferred to British Liverpool for a record sum for a Uruguayan player, had to travel to England to settle his situation with his new club.
All the other Celestes had minutes on the court, including the historic Martín Cáceres, Edinson Cavani and Fernando Muslera, who could play in the last World Cup of their careers.
“Sorry for not being there, but if I’m not there it’s because I want to be well for the World Cup,” Suárez said from Spain, where he is recovering from his injury, in a live broadcast that the public could see on the stadium screen.
Uruguay, led by Diego Alonso, is drawn in group H at the 2022 World Cup along with Portugal, South Korea and Ghana.
