GARRA CHARRÚA AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF URUGUAYAN FOOTBALL

Uruguay channeled its sense of inferiority in the early twentieth century to turn itself into a modern, social democracy, ahead of any other Latin American nation. This gave it an overblown feeling of self, a belief that, despite constantly being the underdog, Uruguay could triumph.

Nowhere is this more evident than on the football field. It has resulted in the formation of a national psychology - Garra Charra - that portrays Uruguay as the eternal underdog in a near-impossible battle against others, attempting the unattainable.

Garra Charra - literally "Claw of the Charra" - is about persistence and fortitude in the face of hardship, about being resourceful and bold, about never giving up. Long before Forlán, Luis Suárez, and Enzo Francescoli, there were the indigenous Charra, who occupied the country before the conquistadors arrived.

The valiant struggle they put up trying to protect their territory against the Spanish invaders is remembered in history. Of course, it was a struggle they could never win, and it would eventually lead to their betrayal by the president, General Fructuoso Rivera, and their annihilation in a last, terrible massacre in 1832.

Their spirit lives on in the traits that Uruguayans have decided to embrace and make their own: fighting against the seemingly unattainable and believing that anything is possible with grit and persistence.

Asserting themselves as a nation in the face of larger, more powerful countries has always demanded a different approach - a personality style, a philosophy. Uruguayan football is similar to Uruguayan life. The national squad has adopted the Garra Charra ethos as its default setting. However, to suggest it was a stand-alone ideology for Uruguayan football would be very simplistic. The fact is much more complicated.

It's always been about striking a balance, trying to reach that perfect sweet spot. Along with the perseverance, streetwise cunning, and attitude of Garra Charra comes the spontaneity, beauty, and creativity of the style evolved on Montevideo's dusty streets and playing fields.

There is a constant clash between these opposing styles at the heart of Uruguayan football, and when that sweet spot is struck, perfection awaits. When the balance sways too much one way or the other, only disappointment results.

Far from the more strict effects of British and European football in the early twentieth century, football developed a feeling of beauty and spontaneity among the working-class - the poor and the outcast - in the squalor of quickly urbanising Montevideo in Uruguay and Argentina.

This Uruguayan football school established a distinct style, combining instinctive spontaneity, naturalness, and elegance. "On the feet of the first Creole virtuosos, el toque, the touch, was born: the ball was strummed as if it were a guitar, a source of music," Galeano writes in his book. This grew into a style that conquered the globe when combined with the Garra mindset to fight till your last breath.