By Alexandra Hudson CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Billed as the bright new hopes of Uruguayan football, Luis Suarez and Nicolas Lodeiro suffered under the weight of expectation very differently in Uruguay's goalless draw with France in World Cup Group A. Coach Oscar Tabarez came to rue his decision to send on Lodeiro after 63 minutes, after the agitated 21-year-old was booked within two minutes, and then given a second yellow and a red after just 16 minutes on the field for felling Bacary Sagna. Suarez, Lodeiro's team mate at Ajax Amsterdam seemed to wilt by contrast, showing little of the sparkle which made him the Dutch league's top scorer this season with 35 goals. With Lodeiro now ruled out of Uruguay's next game against hosts South Africa in Pretoria on June 16, Tabarez will have to reanimate 23-year-old Suarez, who he substituted in the 74th minute. "Suarez didn't give his best perhaps, but there were certain circumstances," Tabarez said after the match, stressing that the fast slippery pitch had given rise to technical errors and caught the team off-guard. Asked whether he might change his line-up and replace Suarez, he said: "It is not good to change players who didn't give their best performances, then they lose even more confidence." Uruguay had relied on strike duo Diego Forlan and Suarez to open up the French defence. Livewire Forlan was dangerous, albeit testing Hugo Lloris only once with a 20-metre curler. "We need to talk to the players very candidly about the match," Tabarez said, adding he had a very open relationship with Suarez. "He started with the junior national squad so we've been working for some years together... we will have to decide what happened to him, how he felt on the pitch. I continue to stress he is a great player." Captain Diego Lugano, who picked up a booking in extra time for dissent, also complained that the pitch had surprised them, compromising their play and precision. "During the first 15 minutes we tried to understand how to cope with such a wet, fast pitch. It was unexpected but then we settled and got some confidence again," he told Reuters. The din of the vuvuzelas had also made communication between the players and the coach very difficult. After South Africa and Mexico drew 1-1 in the tournament curtain-raiser in Johannesburg all four teams have a point each. "Our next match requires a new dimension. We always say the first game defines how the group will evolve but in this instance the next game now will shape the group," said Tabarez. "What I saw is that physically, South Africa is very strong. They had quite a lot of difficulties at the beginning of the game, at some point they could have actually won the game. I think it will be a very passionate match." (Editing by Michael Holden)
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