Oscar Tabares pulled out Diego Forlan in the 38th minute of the second half much to everyone’s surprise.
Later, it was revealed that Forlan was not really 100% fit having a thigh pain that bothered him right from the start. However, without Luis Suarez, Uruguay had no other option but to play him.
He gave his best but in the second half found it difficult to carry on.
Oscar Tabares on his decision to pull out Forlan:
” We would be fools not to take him out without a major reason. He could continue, but we had to make the decision in a given time. It was nothing serious, but obviously he was not 100%. ”
Forlan himself said that the match left him with a bitter taste – the match was lost in the four minutes between Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben’s goals. It took them a long time to come back into the game with Maxi Pereira scoring Uruguay’s second goal in added time. This was a time to exert himself to the maximum but he was already struggling and unable to carry on.