Uruguay's Greatest World Cup Moments

In football, Uruguay is a well-known country. It has 15 times won the Copa América. They share the record for most championships won in the competition's history with Argentina. The most recent victory for Uruguay came in 2011.

Furthermore, Uruguay has won four FIFA World Championships: The squad had won the FIFA World Cup twice, including the first tournament in 1930 when they served as hosts and defeated Argentina 4-2 in the championship match.

Their second championship was won in 1950 when they defeated the host nation Brazil 2-1 in the game's championship, which drew the largest football crowd ever. Additionally, in 1924 and 1928, Uruguay won two gold medals in the Olympic football competition.

Given this description, it should come as no surprise that Uruguay has made history in every world cup in which it has competed, resulting in

Uruguay's Greatest World Cup Moments

.

A ranked of the top 10 Uruguay's Greatest World Cup Moments

Without further ado, let's revisit the past. Below is a list of the Top 10 Uruguay's Greatest World Cup Moments, sorted from best to worst.

First World cup match of Uruguay

The first World Cup match was actually played on July 13, 1930, between Uruguay and Argentina, but the true celebration in Montevideo got underway on July 18, when the host country faced Peru in front of 70,000 crazed supporters at El Centenario.

Although Uruguay would play high-scoring offensive football throughout the competition, Hector Castro's goal gave them a solid 1-0 victory in the first match, starting their love affair with football's premier event.

Extra time against Korea

Uruguay had great expectations going into Italia 1990. The Uruguayans had won the 1987 Copa America in Argentina under the outstanding leadership of Enzo Francescoli of Marseille, defeating

's team in the process no less, but the 1990 World Cup didn't start with any provocative fireworks.

After a humiliating loss to Belgium and a dreary 0-0 draw with Spain, La Celeste needed to defeat the Koreans in order to move on to the next Round.

In stoppage time, Daniel Fonseca, a teenage striker for Nacional, was selected by

with a free kick, and the Nacional player headed home to secure Uruguay's entry into the Round of 16.

First defeat for Uruguay

Rarely do defeats make lists of Uruguay's Greatest World Cup Moments, but Uruguay's loss to Hungary in the World Cup quarterfinal was one of the best matches ever, pitting two of the greatest teams in history against each other.

Hungary was the favorite and the current Olympic Champions, whereas Uruguay had never lost in a World Cup match. Four minutes before the end of regulation, Penarol attacker Juan Hohberg scored twice to force extra time after Hungary had gone up 2-0, thanks to goals from Czibor and Hidegkuti.

The Hungarians proved to be too much in extra time, as Sandor Kocsis scored a brace in the space of five minutes to advance Hungary to the Final.

Dominating Bolivia in 1950

Uruguay went 20 years without making a World Cup appearance, but despite a lengthy absence from the top level of competition, La Celeste had little cause to doubt that they would be among the favorites in Brazil in 1950.

In what appeared to be more of a training session than a World Cup match, they opened the tournament against South American rivals Bolivia.

The team's leading scorer was Juan "Pep" Schiaffino, who scored twice, but on this particular day, Oscar Miguez stole the show by scoring three goals in an 8-0 victory.

It remains the biggest victory margin for Uruguay in a World Cup and one of Uruguay's Greatest World Cup Moments.

Suarez "hands"

Now, this is a gamble Suarez was willing to participate in to create one of

Uruguay's Greatest World Cup Moments

.

The scores were tied at 1-1, and penalties were about to be taken in the 2010 World Cup quarterfinal match between Ghana and Uruguay in South Africa.

Following a corner for Ghana,

stopped Stephan Appiah's shot at the goal line. Dominic Adiyiah then headed the rebound toward the goal, but Suarez deflected it with his hand. Suarez was sent off, Ghana was awarded a penalty, but Gyan missed it, Suarez was shown celebrating, and Uruguay won the game on penalties to advance to the semifinals.

Suarez earned the title of Africa's most hated person and was pursued as the cheater who infuriated the whole continent. The Liverpool striker's actions were lauded by both his colleague

and manager Oscar Tabarez as heroic by some and unsportsmanlike by others.

As a result of Suarez's actions, his country had a remote possibility of moving on to the semifinals, and his risk paid off; the episode caused controversy worldwide.

Quarterfinal against the Soviet Union 1970

Uruguay was a huge underdog going into the 1970 Quarterfinal matchup with the Soviet Union. No one really thought they could create a history or another moment of Uruguay's Greatest World Cup Moments.

Not only was Uruguay a tiny portion of the USSR's size and population, but it had also scored just two goals in the tournament, both of which came against Israel.

Luis Cubilla, a forward, stopped a ball from falling out of bounds four minutes from time, then sent a beautiful cross for Victor Espárrago to score and advance Uruguay to the semifinals and a meeting with Brazil.

Lev Yashin, a former USSR goaltender, complimented Mazurkiewicz after the game and referred to the Penarol player as "his successor."

1930 semifinal

Uruguay will always be regarded as a game innovator and as the first World Cup victor. It's likely that their legacy in the game would not be what it is now if they hadn't advanced to the first Final.

In front of approximately 100,000 spectators at El Centenario, Uruguay faced Yugoslavia in the 1930 Semifinal to make one of

Uruguay's Greatest World Cup Moments

.

The two-time reigning Olympic Gold Medalists replied to Yugoslavia's shocking early lead by thrashing the Europeans with six unanswered goals, advancing them to the Final against archrival Argentina, which had defeated the USA by the identical 6-1 tally.

Uruguay 4-2 England - 1954 World Cup

The top 3 of Uruguay's Greatest World Cup Moments list have now officially begun.

Switzerland 1954 Quarterfinal: Despite the presence of an old Stanley Mathews, Uruguay prevailed 4-2 with goals from Obdulio Varela, Carlos Borges, Juan "Pep" Schiaffino, and Javier Ambroise.

Even though Uruguay went on to win the Copa America in 1956, the victory of Hungary, later on, marked the end of a World Cup era as Schiaffino left to play for AC Milan and would later represent Italy, and brilliant defender Jose Santamaria left to play for Real Madrid and would play for Spain at Chile 1962, Varela and brilliant goalkeeper Roque Maspoli retired, and Uruguay has not yet returned to become a force at the World Cup stage.

1930 FIFA World Cup Final

Before we get to the top of Uruguay's Greatest World Cup Moments, we have runner-up on the list.

The Uruguay 1930 final, which was a replay of the Amsterdam Olympics Final from two years prior, paired Uruguay and Argentina—at the time, the undisputed superpowers of World Football—against one another.

Dorado gave Uruguay the early edge, but Argentina took the lead at the half thanks to goals from Carlos Pucelle and the first World Cup's top scorer, Guillermo Stabile.

Uruguay dominated the second half and prevailed 4-2. After many elite European teams declined to go across the Atlantic, Uruguay would skip the World Cup for 20 years until winning it all again in Brazil.

1950 FIFA World Cup Final

The final moment of Uruguay's Greatest World Cup Moments is their second championship.

The 1950 World Cup's final match matched Uruguay, the inaugural champion, against

, the hosts, and neighbors who were going for their first World Cup.

Because there was no knockout round in the 1950 competition, the Brazilians simply needed a draw to win the title after defeating Sweden and Spain with seven and six goals, respectively, in the first two group games.

Neither team scored at the break, but it appeared only a matter of time before Brazil did, and Friaca's goal two minutes into the second half gave them the lead.

Surely Brazil would go on to win by three or four goals now that the celebrations had started in the crowd, but right winger Alcide Ghiggia took over the game.

Juan Schiaffino scored to tie the score in the 66th minute after he charged down the right.

Ghiggia once more found himself unimpeded down the right, and 11 minutes from time, he past goalkeeper Moacyr Barbosa at the near post to give Uruguay the victory and guarantee them the title.

While the match represented a national catastrophe for Brazil, it is by far Uruguay's greatest sporting triumph against all odds.

In spite of the fact that Ghiggia and

are still loved in Uruguay, many people still have faith that Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez will one day join them in immortality.

Read more

Follow 

 for the