Panaji: Kolkata will be home to two former world champions at the same time, at least for a few days.Two-time world champions Uruguay will arrive in Kolkata on Sept 30, while five-time World Cup winners Brazil land a day later for their friendly against India at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan on Oct 3.Uruguay, ranked 20 in the world, face India at the same venue on Oct 6. The former world champions, however, will be without the services of captain Federico Valverde, who has been ruled out after picking up an injury in the Madrid derby earlier this week. In a statement, the club said tests carried out on the player revealed that he has a “grade 3 sprain in his left ankle.”The Uruguay Football Association confirmed on Tuesday that Valverde has been replaced by Palmeiras midfielder Emiliano Martinez.“Uruguay will arrive in India before Brazil and have a five-day training camp in Kolkata,” a senior official told TOI on Tuesday. “They will have five training sessions and there’s a possibility that one session could be open to the fans. A clinic for children is also planned, though nothing is confirmed as of now.”According to sources, the contingent will arrive in Kolkata on a private charter aircraft from Seoul.Uruguay are no strangers to Kolkata. The two-time world champions won the 1982 Nehru Cup at Eden Gardens with a squad that had the brilliant Enzo Francescoli, a player so good that Zinedine Zidane named his first son after the Uruguayan superstar.This time around, Uruguay will arrive with high-profile names such as Ronald Araujo (Liverpool), Darwin Nunez (Al-Diriyah FC), Jose Maria Gimenez (Atletico Madrid), Rodrigo Bentancur (Tottenham Hotspur) and Mathias Olivera (Napoli), all of whom are part of the squad for the FIFA international match window.Coached by Diego Forlan, a FIFA World Cup Golden Boot winner, who played for Manchester United and Atletico Madrid, Uruguay will play two friendlies against Japan (Sept 24, Miyagi) and South Korea (Sept 28, Seoul), before they set foot in Kolkata for the final friendly of their Asia sojourn.
