The only South American team to win a game so far at Russia 2018, Uruguay have won their first two World Cup matches for the first time since 1954 and already booked their place in the last 16.
And yet, their performances have been a little underwhelming. The 1-0 wins over Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been thoroughly competent affairs, with goalkeeper Fernando Muslera having barely a shot to save so far. Even so, there is a feeling that the current Uruguay side are capable of more.
Coach Oscar Washington Tabarez will not care too much. Uruguay are doing it his way: step by step, hard to play against and not aiming to win too many points for style.
In the 12 years of this, his second spell in charge of the Uruguayan national team, there have been occasional signs of an inner conflict. He took over back in 2006 with the message that all of Uruguay's sides, at all levels, would play the 4-3-3 formation, which, Tabarez said, was inherent in their history and footballing identity.
That grand strategy lasted just one competitive game. In the opener of the 2007 Copa America, Peru walked through the Uruguayans to win 3-0. "Reality was too strong for us," mused Tabarez after that defeat, and the 4-3-3 was abandoned. It left the team too open. In came pure pragmatism, switching systems in accordance with the opposition, usually recognising that the opposition had more talent.
Uruguay were going to play from inside a bunker.
When they bounced back on the global stage by reaching the World Cup semifinals in 2010, Tabarez was especially happy with one statistic. In nearly all of their games, their opponents had more possession but Uruguay had more shots. And Uruguay were happy in their bunker until the middle of last year, when the wheels fell off.
With their place in Russia looking in serious jeopardy, Tabarez became bold. He promoted a generation of young midfielders, recent graduates from the excellent work that he and his staff have been carrying out at the U-20 level, and radically changed the characteristics of the team. Suddenly Uruguay, became a more possession-based side. They went to Russia with the capacity not only to grind out results, but to achieve them in style.
Yet a single change to the lineup has altered the balance and sent them a little closer to the bunker. Martin Caceres, an old Tabarez favourite, has returned at left-back. This may have had a specific logic for the match against Egypt, in which Tabarez was expecting Mohamed Salah to play some part in the game, but it made little sense against Saudi Arabia.
Back in March, when Uruguay impressed by beating the Czech Republic and Wales to lift the China Cup, the position was filled by Diego Laxalt. This was something of an improvisation; Laxalt is a wide midfielder rather than a genuine full-back but he is full of lung power and, crucially, he is left-footed. This opens up the pitch for Uruguay, giving them more attacking options. Furthermore, the pace and dynamism of Laxalt allow him to take care of the left flank, which means the midfielder on that side of the pitch can tuck in and become the extra man.
In the absence of Laxalt, with Caceres at left-back, the left-sided midfielder plays wider and there is a real danger of Matias Vecino and Rodrigo Bentancur being outnumbered three-to-two in central midfield. This imbalance has prevented Uruguay from moving the ball through the central areas and building attacking momentum.
In Uruguay's opener against Egypt, playmaker Giorgian De Arrascaeta was left without partnerships and unable to ease his way into the game. The introduction of Cristian Rodriguez for the Saudi Arabia match at least gave the team an attacking left foot, but it did not solve the problem in central midfield.
Laxalt did come on in the second half against the Saudis, which helped drive the team forward. But he replaced Rodriguez rather than Caceres, and so the team never managed to reproduce the fine, controlled possession they had displayed in March.
There is still time for Tabarez to dwell on the balance of the side for the rest of the competition. Equally, it's too early to be able to arrive at conclusions about future opponents, meaning that Monday's match against Russia is a glorified friendly.
The World Cup really gets going for Uruguay the following weekend and it will be fascinating to observe the balance of the side that Tabarez selects. It could well be, though, that he will relish the fact that his team will not have the responsibility to take the initiative in the game. That inner conflict between boldness and the bunker is usually won by the latter.