A rich sporting history can be a source of great pride and inspiration. However, it can also be burden. One look at the West Indies cricket teams of the past decade is ample proof.
Uruguay have a storied football history, one that saw them win the inaugural World Cup in 1930 and then another 20 years later. However, for a major part of the past 60 years since they shocked the 199,984 expectant Brazilian fans crammed into Rio’s iconic Maracana Stadium in 1950, the world has caught up with and even overtaken the tiny nation of 3.4 million people that set the standard in footballing excellence when the beautiful game was at its nascent stage.
At the Fifa World Cup in South Africa there has been a renaissance in Uruguayan football and the Latin Americans have reached the quarterfinals after a 40-year gap.
Leading the charge has been striker Diego Forlan, whose father Pablo was a member of the Uruguay squad at Mexico 1970 that reached the semis.
The seeds of Uruguay’s footballing spirit were sowed in the maiden South American championship in 1916 which they won. In those early years, Uruguay took on the much larger nations and came out triumphant thanks to the concept of garra — a Latin term which literally means grit and the ability to claw victory from jaws of defeat.
Since the early triumphs the word has taken on a negative connotation to describe the aggressive style of play many Uruguay teams have adopted in the subsequent years, those that were unable to match the technical prowess of their predecessors.
Of course the word is open to a plethora of interpretations, but for many in the current team it is an outdated term.
“Obviously you have to have spirit, but I’m not a believer in garra. It is misinterpreted as your always having to give it your all on the pitch, but a lot of countries play well even and though they don’t have Uruguay’s garra and determination, they win more important titles.
“By misinterpreting garra, we have been achieving poor results. Football changed, but we didn’t and if we don’t start to change all the garra in the world can’t help us,” said the team’s star striker Forlan.
The team’s pragmatic coach Oscar Tabarez, like Forlan, is also a firm believer in moving with the times.