uruguay finished in 12th place, in the 2014 world cup.
uruguay finished in 12th place, in the 2014 world cup.
what place did uruguay finish in, in the 2014 world cup?
12th
in the 2014 world cup, italy were placed in group d, along with costa rica, england and uruguay, in what was called the "group of death". on 14 june, in italy's opening match against england, pirlo wore the captain's armband due to buffon's last minute injury. the match ended with a 2–1 win to italy. pirlo heavily contributed to italy's win, controlling the flow of the game, and setting up several goalscoring chances, as italy dominated possession. during the match, pirlo made 108 passes in total, only misplacing five, with a pass completion rate of 95.4%, completing the most passes of any other player in the previous opening matches of the 2014 world cup. with a 93.2 pass percentage, italy also managed to record the highest pass accuracy percentage of any team in a world cup match since denmark in the 1966 world cup, completing 561 of their 602 passes. pirlo also contributed to italy's first goal of the match: antonio candreva's short corner was played to marco verratti, who then passed the ball out wide towards pirlo, who drew his marker with him. pirlo let the ball pass in between his legs to marchisio, leaving him with space to score with a low drive from outside the area. pirlo also managed to hit the crossbar from a swerving free kick in injury time. italy suffered 1–0 defeats in both of their remaining matches against costa rica and uruguay, however and were eliminated in the group stage for the second consecutive world cup, finishing in a disappointing third place in their group, behind costa rica and uruguay. pirlo's appearance against uruguay was his 112th cap for italy, which allowed him to equal dino zoff's number of appearances for the italian national team, and made him the fourth most capped player for the italian national team. the italian squad and manager, cesare prandelli, were criticised for over-relying on pirlo to create goalscoring chances. although pirlo was able to set up some goal scoring opportunities and did test the opposition goalkeepers with some dangerous free kicks in the final two group games, his performances were stifled by the defensive pressure of the opposition, and he was much less dominant than he had been in the opening match against england. although he had previously communicated his intention to retire after the world cup, he stated, upon his return to italy, that he would still be available to play for the national team.
andrea pirlo
barzagli retained his place in the starting lineup throughout the 2014 world cup qualifying campaign, as italy qualified for the tournament undefeated, with two matches to spare. on 16 may 2013, barzagli was named to prandelli's 31-man short-list for italy's 2013 fifa confederations cup squad; he was eventually called up to the final 23-man italy squad for the 2013 fifa confederations cup in brazil on 3 june, and he went on to appear in three of italy's five matches throughout the tournament, starting in italy's two opening group wins against mexico and japan, whilst he was rested in italy's defeat to hosts and eventual champions brazil; after picking up an injury in the semi-final penalty shoot-out defeat against spain, he missed italy's penalty shoot-out victory over uruguay in the bronze medal match, which allowed them to finish the tournament in third place, their best ever finish in the confederations cup. barzagli was also named to prandelli's 30-man short-list for the 2014 world cup on 13 may 2014, and he was also later called up as one of italy's starting centrebacks for the 2014 fifa world cup in brazil on 1 june. he appeared in all three of italy's group matches throughout the world cup, also making his 50th cap in the final group match defeat against uruguay, as they were knocked out in the first round of the tournament with three points.
andrea barzagli