Uruguay

Uruguay's coach Marcelo Bielsa was not swayed by sentiments and past records. The 70-year-old had been plotting - for a number of teams - from the dug out for nearly forty years. He had a clarity of thought on team selection, and in the case of Luis Suarez, the Argentine coach was clear that one of the country's greatest football stars was past his prime, had retired in 2024, and he was not going to pick him for another World Cup.

The 39-year-old Suarez, who had played 143 Internationals and scored 69 goals, came out of retirement in April in order to impress Bielsa for a place in the 26- member squad, but the coach opted for youth. Suarez had said that he will never say "No" to a World Cup; he had already played 4 times in South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Qatar and had scored seven goals.

But the coach had other ideas. While the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Neymar will be seen in action, the highly temperamental and attacking midfielder Suarez will not be. He was on the pitch for over 600 minutes for Inter-Miami in the Major League Soccer and scored six goals.

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The Uruguay coach has picked the likes of Darwin Nunez, Rodrigo Aguirre and Federico Vinas and given them opportunities in the forward line. Nunez was the top scorer with five goals in the South American World Cup qualifier.

Uruguay advanced to the finals, finishing fourth in the 10-team group, but it was far from a satisfactory display by it, winning just seven of the 18 home and away matches. It went down to Argentina, Paraguay, Peru and Ecuador in the qualifiers and to the Ivory Coast, Colombia, and the USA in friendlies. And it did not score in nearly a dozen matches over a period of time. But in the initial stage of the qualifiers, it beat Argentina and Brazil 2-0 before a drop in form.

In spite of a disappointing run, the two-time swimmer Uruguay is expected to proceed to the round of 32 from a group which has Saudi Arabia, debutant Cape Verde and Spain. It should be happy with the draw.

The Opta supercomputer has predicted that Uruguay has an 84 per cent chance of clearing the group stage, 39 per cent chance of entering the round of 16 and 20 per cent chance of reaching the quarter-finals. But only a 1.5 per cent chance of winning the title.

The Uruguayan football association did not change the coach, with the players reportedly being unhappy with his style of coaching. Many thought he was not in tune with modern-day football. But Biesla believes his team will evolve during the competition.

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Belgium

Belgium Aka "The Red Devils", is trying to discard the old guard, but Manager Rudi Garcia has still found a place for Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, both outstanding by their own right, but ageing and injury-prone. Lukaku has been capped 124 times (89 goals) and De Bruyne (115 internationals and 36 goals). De Bruyne scored six goals in the qualifier.

These two are an asset to Belgium, trying its luck for the 15th time at the pinnacle tournament of the sport. De Bruyne was on the pitch for 463 minutes in six matches, while Lukaku played in two matches and 171 minutes, which raised concerns about his match fitness during the competition. After the World Cup qualification, Lukaku has spent only 40-odd minutes on the pitch.

Belgium did not confirm its top position till it played its last group match against Liechtenstein, against which it won 7-0. It had tough outings against Wales and New Macedonia, and smooth wins against lesser-known teams enabled it to top the group two points ahead of Wales.

Its qualifying campaign gave opportunities to players like Jérémy Doku and Dodi Lukébakio. The experts believe that Doku, Manchester City winger, and Joaquin Seys have the ability to keep the rival defence busy. They also believe that Charles De Ketelaere can turn out to be a good backup for Lukaku. Thibaut Courtois was back on business under the bar, and his 104- match experience will be useful for the country.

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Belgium lost to the USA and drew with Mexico in away internationals after the qualifying, but inflicted good defeats on Croatia (2-0) and Tunisia (5-0).

It has played 51 World Cup matches, won 21, lost 20 and drawn ten. Its World Cup qualifying record is 149 played, 88 won, 31 lost and 30 drawn. While it has not played against New Zealand and Iran, it has lost three matches and won one against Egypt.

After a first-round departure from the previous World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and a second-round exit from Euro 2024, Belgium, under captain Youri Tielemans, will try to get the best out of a 4-3-3 style of play and promising results.