World Cup 2018: France v Uruguay - the view from both camps
- Published
- comments
Uruguay fans look forward to their World Cup quarter-final game against France
France and Uruguay meet in the last eight of the World Cup on Friday with one camp fretting about the fitness of one of their star strikers and the other concerned about the entertainment on offer.
Winners of their respective groups, both nations overcame tough last-16 fixtures by the odd goal, with France progressing from a seven-goal thriller with Argentina and Uruguay edging past Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal.
Will Uruguay be able to call upon forward Edinson Cavani, their two-goal match-winner against the Portuguese?
Or will Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, Luis Suarez or the South Americans' miserly defence take centre stage?
BBC Monitoring has collated some of the best news and views from both countries ahead of Friday's match.
Uruguay worry about Cavani injury
Uruguayan media has reflected the anxiety and disappointment of many of the country's football fans over Edinson Cavani's likely absence against France due to injury.
El Pais wrote: "The worst news was confirmed on Wednesday in Nizhny Novgorod. Edinson Cavani will not be in the starting team on Friday against France.
The newspaper went on to say that, although Cavani would not be in the starting eleven, "there remains some hope he will be able to be among the substitutes".
Uruguay forward Edinson Cavani is a doubt to play against France after limping off during the last-16 victory over Portugal
'Nation in suspense'
Another story in El Pais featured Carlos Voituret - former chief medical officer of the Uruguayan Football Association - explaining the details of Cavani's injury, with the paper saying it was the "edema [swelling] that is keeping the nation in suspense".
Social media has been inundated with memes and other posts from fans expressing their hopes for a medical miracle.
Could a wishing well heal Edinson Cavani's injury for Friday?
Uruguay fan @irinapastorini tweeted a message showing a picture of a man throwing a bagful of coins into a wishing well, with the caption in Spanish: "Please let Cavani play on Friday."
Meanwhile, the sports section of Uruguayan daily newspaper El Observador, external has quoted Cavani's mother, Berta Gomez, as saying the player and his family "had faith" he could play against France.
"He hasn't lost hope, because we have lots of faith. But we have to wait and see how he recovers with the treatments they're giving him," she said on Uruguay's Channel 12 TV station.
The dullest of the dull?
French daily newspaper Le Monde is more worried the match could be "boring" - which is a direct quote from Griezmann.
"'G… O… A… L…': what are these letters? Do they have a meaning, if we say them out loud? Is anyone on Friday even going to attempt doing so? There's plenty of uncertainty on the eve of the match that it may well end up being be the dullest out of the entire World Cup," they say.
'In the national interest'
Work. What work? Uruguayan newspaper El Observador is reporting that at least two municipal governments and six more city governments will shut down or reschedule their services until after the game.
"When the football team plays it is a holiday, or semi-holiday, mainly in municipal governments" because "football is an issue of national interest," said the paper.
The Tricolore baguette
French bakery La Petite Germinoise, near Rennes, has produced limited edition baguettes for Friday's World Cup match against Uruguay
The French media has also gone into overdrive with predictions, statistics, and pictures of baguettes and macarons, external baked in the colours of the French flag.
For now the limited edition food will only be available this Friday, though of course if France win, there could be more culinary treats reflecting national pride before the first semi-final on Tuesday (10 July).