Low-budget, high return for Uruguay

Tabarez, the lowest-paid coach left in the tournament, is worth his weight in gold, says Ian Hawkey.

Oscar Washington Tabarez, left, has steered Uruguay to the last 16 of the World Cup for the first time in two decades.

Oscar Washington Tabarez, the coach of Uruguay, and Fabio Capello, who holds the same job with England, have at least one thing in common: they both once coached the illustrious Italian club AC Milan. How high a value that carries on their CVs seems imprecise. Of the remaining coaches at the World Cup, Capello is the best-paid, Tabarez is the worst. The difference? According to something called the Sport and Business Consultancy, Capello's salary, reported at £6 million (Dh32.8m) is more than 30 times larger than that of Tabarez.

Managerial wages follow the logic not of relative excellence but of means. English football is wealthy; Uruguayan football is quite hard-up, although not because its calibre of players are not top-drawer or do not command lofty transfer fees. The South Americans include in their line-up some of the most sought-after scorers in world football. Already, the goals of Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez have propelled them into the last 16 of the tournament for the first time in 20 years.

Tabarez is evidently doing a good job for his US$353,000 (Dh1.03m) pay packet. "He's made us competitive and tactically astute," says the defender Diego Godin, who hopes to return to the starting XI after missing the victory over Mexico with a virus. "We can be very effective when we are direct because we have such good strikers. But we also play good football to watch. We have established a rhythm, some good routines and learned to be patient."

Indeed, Uruguay waited 114 minutes for their first goal here. Three more followed as they topped Group A, with victories over South Africa and Mexico. Uruguay have suffered the one red card - to Nicolas Lodeiro in the opening, goal-less draw against France - but no team left in the tournament has had fewer yellow cards. Attention is drawn to that fact because a reputation for roughness always stalks Uruguay at these events, and has done for decades. They have a catchphrase for their football, the "garra charrua", best translated from Spanish as something like "to fight tooth and nail".

"We are not a huge country and we don't have the depth of resources that bigger nations do," Godin says. "So we're competitive. It's part of our character. The 'garra charrua' is something we're proud of, even if other people sometimes misunderstand it." In other words, they are avid competitors, but, these days at least, disciplined ones. Uruguay are yet to concede a goal in South Africa. Much of the credit redounds to the captain, Diego Lugano; his usual partner at the centre of defence, Godin; and the goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. Up front, they have shown poise, not least the experienced Forlan.

"Before Forlan took the penalty against us," says Moneeb Josephs, the South Africa goalkeeper of the tense later moments in Uruguay's 3-0 victory over the loudly backed hosts in Pretoria, "I tried to put him off with a few words. He was just ice-cool. It didn't register with him." Tabarez declares himself happy with seven points from the group. In the knockouts, he hopes to see Uruguay improve further. "It is very pleasing to see how the group has developed," he told reporters ahead of the meeting with South Korea. "They are good friends, and they are very committed. They have proved now they are a tough team to play against. "Things have gone well but I think we can still get closer to how we wanted to play." @Email:[e-mail]

Key battle Luis Suarez, the Ajax forward, likes to pull into the left-wing slot, the exact area right-back Du-ri Cha often vacates with his roving runs forward. Tactics Uruguay have yet to concede, and while the first goal is always important, it is even more so for South Korea, who have let in six goals thus far. Previous meetings In five games, South Korea have never triumphed, including a 2-0 friendly win for Uruguay in Seoul in 2007, their most recent meeting.