JOHANNESBURG (AP):

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez thinks his team will join the ranks of the great Uruguay sides of the past if they beat Ghana in today's World Cup quarter-final.

Uruguay won the World Cup in 1930 and 1950 but is in the quarters for the first time in 40 years.

"What's happening to us now is something we had only dreamed about," Tabarez said yesterday. "These players really want to go all the way.

"If we win, the only sides that have done more than we have are the great World Cup winning champions. That's why the match is extremely important from the historical point of view."

Uruguay will make two changes from the team that beat South Korea, with Mauricio Victorino replacing injured Diego Godin in defence and Alvaro Fernandez preferred to Alvaro Pereira in midfield.

warm-up exercises

The winner will play either Brazil or the Netherlands in the last four.

The Uruguay squad trained on the pitch at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg, with Godin the only player to work separately from the main group.

Several players took photographs of each other as they waited for the stadium lights to turn on. They laughed and joked as they did warm-up exercises and worked with the ball during the part of the session open to media.

"You should see my players," Tabarez said. "You would not think this was the eve of a World Cup quarter-final.

"There's a little bit of pressure, but not too much pressure because that would be negative."

Tabarez said few countries could match Uruguay's passion for the game or their history at World Cups.

"For a long time, our country has not had victories in the big tournaments but we never lacked the great footballing culture," he said. "The most important toy that boys receive at Christmas is a football. This sense of identity is important and is passed down from generation to generation."

impressive attack

Tabarez said his side must be wary of relying too much on their impressive attack of Diego Forlan, Luis Suarez and target man Edinson Cavani.

"The main factor is individual players and their potential," Tabarez said. "(The attackers) have demonstrated that they have very good potential, but they carry no extra responsibility and we are not demanding anything special from them.

"We expect a lot from all our players. If we want our dreams to come true they will all have to play very well."

Tabarez said Ghana would be no pushovers, despite being ranked 16 places below Uruguay.

"Ghana is a country that is coming closer to elite football," he said. "They have young payers with a lot of experience. ... They can be the first African team in the semi-finals, so from the point of view of motivation I think the Ghana team is going to be very strong."