By Paul Giblin
ROSTOV-ON-DON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Uruguay coach Oscar Washington Tavarez isn't worried about the form of Luis Suarez as the striker prepares to reach a personal milestone when his side face Saudi Arabia in Rostov-On-Don on Wednesday night.
The FC Barcelona forward will make his 100th appearance for his country on Wednesday and Tavarez insisted he still had faith in him despite a poor performance in the 1-0 win over Egypt on Saturday.
"Reaching 100 games for your country is a very important number of games for an international player," said Tavarez; "and in most of those games, Suarez has been vital for us, scoring important goals and giving assists.
"We all know he wasn't great against Egypt, but he hasn't lost his potential at all," he insisted, adding that one of the things that makes football special is that it is unpredictable.
"Football is a question about people; footballers are not machines you can program and you need to have understanding and support for the players to give them what they need to play in the next game."
A win against a Saudi side who lost their opening game 5-0 to Russia, would almost certainly book Uruguay's place in the last 16 of the competition (certain if Egypt fail to beat Russia), but Tavarez warned that after a first round of matches where Uruguay was the only South American side to win their game, nothing can be taken for granted.
"The debut was tough for everyone; not just Uruguay and we have seen a lot of equality in the games," he explained.
"Maybe the Russia-Saudi game was the one with the biggest difference, but I am not expecting a rival what will roll out the carpet for us, but against a side who want to turn their defeat around."
"The Saudis are fast and talented and almost drew against Germany in a preparation game, we will try and nullify their strong points and exploit their weaknesses, but it will be a tough game, like all the games we have seen so far in the World Cup."
"You have to be prepared for anything that can happen, we have seen anything can happen in the first round of games and everyone here has something to show," said Tavarez.
