Tabarez adds Silva, Mendez to Uruguayan nat’l team roster for friendlies

Coach Oscar Washington Tabarez added Vasco da Gama goalkeeper Martin Silva and Wanderers central defender Bruno Mendez this weekend to the roster of the Uruguayan national soccer team that will play friendlies with Brazil on Nov. 16 in London and France on Nov. 20 in Paris, the Uruguayan Soccer Association (AUF) said.

The national team needed to fill the roster spots of three players who were injured in international club competition on Saturday, and Silva and Mendez got two of the spots.

Goalkeeper Fernando Muslera suffered a cut that “required stitches” during a match he played for his Turkish league club, Galatasaray, the AUF said in a statement.

Defender and team captain Diego Godin, who plays for Atletico Madrid, “experienced intense pain in the back of the thigh with the characteristics of a rupture,” the AUF said.

Marcelo Saracchi, who plays for Germany’s RasenBallsport Leipzig, “experienced pain in the back of the thigh and was replaced during the first 15 minutes of the first half. He will not face Brazil and France. He will continue rehabilitating with the club,” the AUF said.