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For almost two decades, international centre-backs would endure sleepless nights at the prospect of facing Uruguay. The root of their concern was twofold – they would have to try to contain Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani.
Their attacking partnership was on display at four editions of the FIFA World Cup™, with their best showing coming in South Africa 2010 when they fired the Celeste to a fourth-place finish. The two strikers managed a total of 12 World Cup goals between them over their international careers.
Their story on the world stage, however, began long before their exploits in South Africa. At Canada 2007, Suarez and Cavani gave the world a glimpse of what was to come as they represented Uruguay at the FIFA U-20 World Cup™.
The strike duo hit the ground running at the start of the tournament. Arguably their best performance came against a Spain side boasting the likes of Juan Mata and Gerard Pique. Moments after the break, Suarez played an exquisite ball in for Cavani to open the scoring.
Just ten minutes into the second half, it was Suarez’s turn to get on the scoresheet. The then No18 found the back of the net with a tidy finish from outside the area, doubling Uruguay’s lead. Spain would eventually draw level in the game, but the strike partnership were a constant thorn in the side of the Spanish defenders.
Their feat in that particular match is a surprisingly rare occurrence given their quality. Despite being such an iconic partnership over recent years, Cavani and Suarez never managed to both score in the same FIFA World Cup game. They only ever managed this in the U-20 tournament.
In the following match, Uruguay’s captain and No9 put on a display that would show why he would go on to earn the nickname ‘El Matador’ later in his career. One chance was all Cavani needed to find the back of the net, sealing a 1-0 win in a hard-fought encounter with Jordan.
The USA were sure to provide a stern test for Uruguay in the last 16. The Americans were coming off the back of an impressive win against Brazil in the group stage, but they were about to feel the full force of the Celeste attack. Twenty-eight minutes into the second half, Suarez picked up the ball down the Uruguay left and found Cavani with a cross.
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His header was blocked, but Suarez pounced on the rebound and made no mistake as he broke the deadlock. That was not enough, however, to keep Uruguay in the tournament, as Michael Bradley won the game for the USA in extra time.
Despite having been knocked out of the tournament, Cavani and Suarez produced the first glimpses in Canada of the ability that we would later see in the senior game. There can only be one winner of the U-20 World Cup, but who will be the next great duo to emerge on the global stage?
