Uruguay are not quite as good as Spain, and theoretically should beat Tahiti by fewer goals than Spain, but the Spaniards were holding back a bit despite their 10-0 margin of victory. With a potential group win and an all-time FIFA record for margin of victory in their sights, Uruguay might be a little more hesitant to let off the gas.
Uruguay vs. Tahiti, 2013 Confederations Cup: Preview and TV schedule
Expect Uruguay to beat Tahiti by enough goals that the result of Spain-Nigeria is irrelevant.
Robert Cianflone
Tahiti are, incredibly, not mathematically eliminated from the competition. They would need Spain to beat Nigeria while beating Uruguay by eight goals to go through, but they can take comfort in the fact that they survived longer in Confederations Cup than either Mexico or Japan. Clearly, they're an emerging football power.
A win by six or seven goals should see Uruguay through to the next round, assuming that Nigeria doesn’t put a beating on Spain. There is one amazing scenario where Uruguay and Nigeria could go through while Spain exits -- if Nigeria wins by four goals and Uruguay wins by eight, the defending World and European champions will be eliminated.
There's only one absence for Uruguay: central defender Diego Lugano. He's suspended for yellow card accumulation. Given how poor he's been since the 2011 Copa America, that might be a net gain for his team.
Match date/time: Sunday, 3 p.m. ET
Venue: Arena Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
TV: ESPN2 (U.S. - English), Univision Deportes (U.S. - Spanish), BBC Red Button (U.K.), CBC (Canada), DirecTV Sports (Uruguay)
Online: ESPN3 (U.S.)
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