Cavani seeks striker's role for Uruguay
Reuters - Wednesday 06 July 2011, 20:51
MENDOZA - Uruguay forward Edinson
Cavani acknowledged on Wednesday he is playing out of
position at the Copa America and said he was perhaps also
feeling the effects of a long season with Napoli in Italy.
Cavani plays as a striker for Napoli but with Luis Suarez
and Diego Forlan in the Uruguayan front-line, he drops to a
deeper position for the national side.
He spent much of Monday's opening Group C match against Peru
wide on the right, feeding the two forwards in the 1-1 draw.
Asked in a news conference which position he preferred, he
said the statistics spoke for themselves.
"In Napoli I've had a great year in the position I was
playing, but we all know that in the national side the only
position in which it's been possible for me to play isn't the
same," he said.
"They're two different things. I have to play a different
role here. I'm ready to do it, and to give my all, but it's
normal that sometimes you get to the end of a match and you're
left with an urge to have done more."
Cavani scored 33 goals in 47 matches last season with
Napoli, 26 of them in the league. He has scored nine times in 28
matches for Uruguay, including in their World Cup third-place
playoff defeat by Germany last year.
The 24-year-old said he was possibly feeling the impact of a
tough season in Italy.
"The truth is that we're not machines and we're not designed
to play so many matches," he said.
"I think the manager's done everything possible to have us
in top shape for this Copa America, so I'll try to give
everything I can, and I think that after it's over we can come
to conclusions about what kind of physical state we're in."
Cavani is likely to start Uruguay's second Copa match
against Chile in Mendoza on Friday.