Man United star Manuel Ugarte blasted by Uruguay media after losing all of his duels vs Cape Verde
Manuel Ugarte has been slammed after the Manchester United star put in a miserable performance in Uruguay’s 2-2 draw against Cape Verde.
It was a shock result for the two-time World Cup champions as the South American outfit were unable to beat a team ranked 67th in the world.
Few players impressed, with the 25-year-old being one of the main strugglers before he was taken off after 70 minutes.
As a result, the Uruguayan media was not kind to Ugarte and labelled him as “imprecise” for his performance on Sunday.
Now, the nation is in serious danger of being knocked out in the group stage, with a victory against Spain possibly needed to reach the round of 32.
After two games, Uruguay sit on just two points after draws against Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde.
Manuel Ugarte struggles in draw vs Cape Verde
Ugarte is likely to leave Man United this summer after he struggled to cement himself in the starting XI under Michael Carrick.
However, any chance of him playing himself into form at the World Cup appears to be over after another poor performance.
The midfielder was seen as one of the poorest players on the pitch on Sunday, in what was one of the shocks of the World Cup so far.
When reviewing his performance, El Observador gave him a four rating before stating: “He cut off and initiated attacks well at the start. Then he failed to press the play that led to the free kick for the goal.
“Being behind made him imprecise, both with the ball and in marking, where he was responsible for providing balance to the team.
“He deserves enormous credit for delivering the cross for the second goal, an exquisite lob for Maxi Araujo's leap.
“In the second half, he failed to provide solidity to the midfield or be a reliable distributor of play.”
“In the second half, he failed to provide solidity to the midfield or be a reliable distributor of play.”
How bad was Ugarte vs Cape Verde?
Based on his stats, Ugarte’s performance against Cape Verde is certainly worth criticising.
According to Fotmob on 22 June, the midfielder only completed 85 per cent of his passes, failed to hit the target with any of his shots and created just one chance.
On top of this, he did not win any of his attempted ground duels, was dribbled past three times and failed to complete a successful dribble in what was a woeful display.
Therefore, any of Man United’s personnel watching the display will likely be horrified, as any chance of an interested club coming forward this summer looks increasingly unlikely.
However, it remains to be seen if Ugarte can turn Uruguay’s World Cup around and help the nation reach the knockout stages as they look to make the tournament a memorable one.