Uruguay coach Diego Ormaechea is confident his side is in much better shape now than they were heading into the 1999 World Cup, their first-ever appearance in the finals.

However, he is not convinced they will do any better in Australia than they did in Europe four years ago, when they finished second-bottom of Group A with just a victory over Spain to show for their efforts.

The seeds of Ormaechea's pessimism were born last year when the draw was made in Sydney.

Paired alongside the South Americans in pool C were southern hemisphere giants South Africa, the unpredictable but powerful Samoans, plus Georgia and England, currently the world's number one ranked team.

Immediately the pool was dubbed the 'Group of Death' and Ormaechea's hopes began to fade, with the former international captain aware that they are likely to be competing with Georgia to avoid finishing bottom.

Uruguay's domestic game is still played under an amateur banner, although some of the country's best players are plying their trades in Europe.

However, only a minority of those players are featuring in the top divisions and their absence from South America has affected Ormaechea's World Cup build-up.

Squad: Diego Aguirre, Sebastian Aguirre, Juan Miguel Alvarez, Juan Alzueta, Bernardo Amarillo, Juan Carlos Bado, Carlos Baldassari, Eduardo Berrutti, Nicolas Brignon, Emiliano Caffera, Juan Campomar, Rodrigo Capo, Alfonso Cardoso, Ignacio Conti, Joaquin de Freitas, Leonardo de Olivera, Nicolas Grille, Marcelo Guttierrez, Emiliano Ibarra, Diego Lamelas, Pablo Lemoine, Juan Machado, Juan Ramon Menchaca, Martin Mendaro, Joaqui Pastore, Juan Perez, Hernan Ponte, Diego Reyes, Rodrigo Sanchez, Guillermo Storace.