da aviator aposta： 25-year-old Federico Valverde will be key if La Celeste are to make it to the 2024 Copa America final

da leao： Some players' impact on a football match is difficult to quantify. Fans often look to goals and assists for attacking players, or saves and clean sheets for goalkeepers. The bits in between are more nuanced, and it gets even trickier when a player can do a bit of everything.

Indeed, some footballers just need to be watched to be fully appreciated. Such is the case with Federico Valverde. The Uruguay captain spent his young days as the next Steven Gerrard, then he was an elite goal-scoring winger. Now, he doesn't do much that ends up on a stat sheet. He is not the attacking force that he was supposed to be. But that's by no means a bad thing.

Instead, Valverde has undergone the most selfless of switches, sacrificing his natural attacking instincts with a view of doing all of the less glamorous stuff in between. He doesn't score much, while his assisting numbers are agreeable – but not stellar.

For this Uruguay team, though his impact is immense. Valverde is the beating heart of the midfield, happy to tackle, intercept, pass and move. Marcelo Bielsa loves chaos, and Valverde embodies it.

And ahead of La Celeste's Copa America semifinal against Colombia Wednesday night in Charlotte, N.C. – a game that will likely be defined by its frenetic play – the 25-year-old captain has a chance to not only take his team a step closer to silverware, but also earn some of the respect he deserves as a footballer.

Getty ImagesEarly difficulties

Valverde was just 19 when he made his Uruguay debut. Then-manager Oscar Tabarez used him as a wide forward at the time, playing a modified wing-role to support Luis Suarez and Edison Cavani. And in an early indication of Valverde's signature versatility, he scored on his debut, banging in the first in a 2-1 win over Paraguay.

That was enough to keep him in the side. He started the next three games – all in various attacking roles. His impact was felt n- Uruguay won two of three World Cup qualifiers and fought their way to a tough away draw against Venezuela.

But he soon fell out of favor. He watched from the sidelines in the run up to the 2018 World Cup, and although he was included in La Celeste's 26-man provisional squad, he failed to make the final 23. A knee injury that kept him out for nine games certainly was a factor, but he had two months to recover before the tournament. Tabarez, though, wasn't convinced. And Uruguay lost to eventual champions France in the quarterfinals.

AdvertisementGettyA developing career

But things soon turned around. Valverde worked his way back, appearing in a number of post-World Cup friendlies. And although Uruguay toiled in those fixtures, Valverde made a number of tidy contributions off the bench.

Meanwhile, his Madrid career began to take off. His first big moment was an ironic one. In the Spanish Super Cup final in January 2020, Valverde did something special to earn his way into Madridista hearts. It was 0-0 extra time, and Atletico Madrid's Alvaro Morata burst through on goal, with 40 yards of space to run into and only the keeper to beat. Then, Valverde caught up. The midfielder ate up ground, and clipped Morata's legs from behind – just outside the box. The referee showed a red card immediately and chaos ensued.

Atleti were rattled, and failed to convert off the ensuing set piece – with Madrid ultimately winning on penalties. Watch the highlight today on YouTube, and the comments remain full of adoring Madrid fans, praising Valverde for sacrificing himself for the team.

From that day on, he was an important part of Zinedine Zidane's Madrid side. He started the big games – Clasicos, Champions League ties, title deciders. Los Blancos pipped Barca to the La Liga crown.

Since then, he has only become more important. Carlo Ancelotti has always found a role for Valverde – first as a modified right-winger, then as a central midfielder. Back in 2022, he called on the Uruguayan to improve.

"He’s confident in his abilities, and he has a lot of abilities. He’s more than just energy. But, to say he’s best in the world in his position, we might have to wait a little longer," Ancelotti admitted in September 2022.

And it seems to have worked.

(C)Getty ImagesWorld Cup disappointment

Still, for all of his Madrid improvement, Uruguay were poor at the 2022 World Cup. Stuck between generations, the Celeste were young and exciting at some positions, and languid at others. Suarez and Cavani were running out of legs, while an injury to Ronald Araujo at the back hampered the side. Meanwhile, Darwin Nunez struggled for form through the middle. It all amounted to a group stage exit – the team forced to watch a late comeback from South Korea after beating Ghana in their final group game.

Valverde, for his part, never really showed up. He offered energy in the middle, but failed to make an impact against first South Korea, then Portugal. This wasn't all his fault – Uruguay were paper-thin elsewhere in central midfield – but he was far short of the world class presence that Ancelotti had pipped him as in Madrid.

He later admitted that he should have done more to help his country:

"The World Cup affected me," Valverde said. "When you go for a goal, you have such illusion and optimism that everything will go well with your country, you go with the dream of a child representing millions of people to try to go as far as possible and fighting to win Not being able to do it makes you sad. Everything we work on seems to have been of no use and it hurts."

GettyReal Madrid change his game

Valverde endured a slump after the Qatar World Cup. Off-field controversy, highlighted by an altercation with Villarreal's Alex Baena, saw his form drop off. The energetic midfielder spiraled. By the end of the 2022-23 season, there were serious questions to be asked as to whether Valverde could stay at the club.

Things looked even more difficult when Los Blancos announced the arrival of Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund. They had too many midfielders, and not enough space to fit them all in. Of course, Ancelotti had an answer (he always seems to.) He moved Valverde back into a deeper-lying role, asking him to play alongside the immobile Toni Kroos at the base of a modified 4-4-2. In theory, it didn't make much sense. Valverde had proved himself as a goalscoring midfielder. He was supposed to be Gerrard, not Sergio Busquets.

In the end, he was neither. Valverde spent the 2023-24 campaign eating up ground in central areas, becoming the ideal embodiment of the box-to-box midfielder. He only scored twice in La Liga, but he provided seven assists. And if Kroos was hailed by fans for his swansong, it was only because Valverde had plugged so many holes next to him.