World Cup 2018: Edinson Cavani looking to pay Uruguay back after years of being the one owed something

He felt like his country owed him one. He’d always put them before himself. He’d poured as much blood and sweat as any of his industrious and combative compatriots. He’d sacrificed in the great tradition of world football’s greatest overachievers. He’d shown la garra. Edinson Cavani had been a good Uruguayan.

Throughout those years spent emerging as one of the world’s leading centre-forwards, there was no natural place for el Matador in his national side. Diego Forlán was king. With a dearth of creative midfielders, it was Forlán who knitted together and otherwise broken team. And with Luis Suárez leading the line, Cavani had to get in where he could fit in. “I always say I’m a football worker,” he insists.

And work he did. For a generation, the combative and indefatigable midfield duo of Diego Perez and the criminally underrated Egidio Arevalo Rios embodied La Celeste. As the likes of Nicolas Lodeiro and Gaston Ramirez flattered to deceive in creative roles, Forlan remained and Cavani had to make do. “We know he's one of the best forwards in the world, but that's not just down to the goals he scores, but because he sacrifices himself for the rest of the team,” said defender Jose Gimenez earlier this year.

And charging up and down the flank as a de facto wing-back for the first half of his international career saw was hardly a departure for a man who has spent a considerable chunk of his glittering career working around others. Whether it was Fabrizio Miccoli forcing him out wide at Palermo or Zlatan Ibrahimovic forcing him into the shadows at PSG, Cavani was rarely handed the leading role.

That’s likely the reason behind his very public spat with French club’s latest poster boy, Neymar. The Brazilian joined the capital club to escape Lionel Messi’s shadow, but Cavani refused to step out of the sun. He’d been in the shade for long enough.

Now the club’s all-time top scorer, times have changed for Cavani at PSG. And so, too, have they at la Celeste. Forlan hung up his decorated international boots following World Cup 2014, ushering in what was supposed to be Cavani’s time.

His big chance arrived at Copa America 2015. With Luis Suarez suspended and Forlan long gone, Cavani was finally cast as the star. But his premiere would end in ignominy, sent off after reacting – understandably, one might add – to being poked in the backside by the devilish Gonzalo Jara during a 1-0 quarter-final defeat to Chile.

And the reviews would only get worse the following year as an injured Suarez looked on at the Copa America Centenario. Frustrated throughout and feeding off scraps, Uruguay’s lack of creativity reared its ugly head again, and Cavani squandered the few chances his side did muster as they crashed out in the group stages.

That defeat would be followed by a hideous run that saw Uruguay plunged deep into crisis at the tail end of the year. They went almost 12 months without a win, picking up just one point from four qualifiers during a run that threatened to cancel their trip to Russia.

Drastic measures were required. “I can honestly say my generation didn’t take the risks they should have done,” former great Enzo Francescoli once lamented. “That was a big mistake.” It was one that their scholarly coach Oscar Tabarez was desperate not to repeat, so he ushered in a sea change, turning away from old guard and the old methods that had brought a World Cup semi-final in 2010 and a Round of 16 finish four years later, plus a Copa America title in between.

Upon his return to the role in 2006, ‘el maestro’ had already accepted that, like so many of their neighbours, the game’s globalisation has left Uruguay an exporter. He placed great importance on national identities in international football so quickly initiated a program that identified talented youngsters who appeared set for Europe and gave them a crash-course in who Uruguay were. And the past year has seen its graduates completely transform a midfield that had long been his side’s greatest deficiency.

In the likes of Rodrigo Bentancur, Matías Vecino, the enchanting Giorgian De Arrascaeta – all of whom should start against Egypt – and the smart-passing Lucas Torreira, Uruguay have found midfielders able to elaborate on the ball and retain possession. Diego Godín, Martín Cáceres and José Giménez will ensure they remain just as resolute at the back, but the new breed has encouraged the side to move a higher up the pitch, play fewer vertical passes and become less reliant on counter-attacks. Russia 2018 should see them circulate the ball through midfield more patiently than any Uruguayan side for generations.

Cavani was far and away the top scorer on the continent during qualification and, now, with genuine creativity behind him, will be confident of making an impact this month. Revitalised and revolutionised, Uruguay and Cavani arrive in Russia with momentum and genuine hopes of doing something special.

Excitement is certainly building back home, with one restaurant owner in Montevideo ditching their no-TV policy and brought in their living-room plasma in order to offer patrons ‘breakfast with la Celeste’ for Friday morning’s 9:00am kick-off.

Singled out by some as this year’s dark horses, there is optimism on the River Plate. A deeply religious man, Edinson Cavani will certainly believe. And after his Copa America misadventures, he’ll likely feel like he owes them one.