Uruguay manager defended his use of Real Madrid star Federico Valverde

held to a goalless draw by South Korea in their first game at the World Cup and they lost with two goals against Portugal on Monday.

Despite having players like Edinson Cavani, Darwin Nunez, Rodrigo Betancur, and Federico Valverde, Uruguay has been disappointing so far and their manager is under pressure for their failure to score a goal in two matches.

After the game,

defended his decision to play

as a defensive midfielder.

"I think Federico has played full matches with us in the qualifying round,"

he said.

"He’s played in the same position, even playing higher up.

"I think he played as a defensive midfielder with a second pivot together with Bentancur. It's the same position that you saw today. He was even playing higher up, or as a wide midfielder.

"I think his main skill is playing through the central lanes. With us, he's showed a great performance in that position.

"When you talk about shooting, I think he shot once [against Korea], it just missed the top corner. He was unlucky he couldn't score.

"For us, he's an important player with many skills. When the team plays better, I'm sure he will shine more."

Uruguay still could qualify for the knockout stage if they beat Ghana in their final Group H match on Friday. Alonso said he has full trust in his players and knows they will play their best game against Ghana.

"We are looking for victory against Ghana, there is no doubt about it,"

Alonso said.

"If we have to make slight modifications, that is what we'll do.

"We will provide a team all the weapons we have at hand, so I have full trust in my players. I'm sure the next game will be hard, but we will go all out so that we have a victory and we qualify.

"We are talking about qualifying or not qualifying. It was very important back in [2010], but this is a different situation. It will be a crucial game, but has nothing to do with what happened 12 years ago.

"We need to feel free and move freely as we played during the second half against Korea. We need to gamble more and push forward, playing in between the lines and going for one-on-ones on the sides.

"Sometimes, opponents also play, they stop you, they know which are your main skills and they try to counter your play. But we need to continue trusting our team, our skills, the players we have, and to also give them trust to develop their game."

Follow 

for the