If there ever was a time for Edison Cavani to show that he is a world class player, the time is now. Uruguay are without their main goalscorer in Luis Suarez, who is serving his suspension from his biting incident in the World Cup last summer. As a result, all of the main scoring will rest on the PSG superstar.
It has been a tough couple of years for Cavani. After his move to Paris-Saint Germain, he has struggled to live up to 64.5 million euros that PSG paid to pry him away from Napoli. Cavani has look out of place playing in Paris but there are many factors in his struggle. One is the fact that he has been put out wide to accomodate Zlatan Ibrahimovic being the central striker for the French Giants. But Cavani has had numerous chances where he was given a chance to shine when Ibrahimovic was out. But he has failed to show up and take advantage of his chances. When given the chance to shine against Barcelona in the quarterfinals of the Champions League with Ibrahimovic out due to suspension, Cavani failed to show up. This raises fair criticism of a man who looks out of sorts with his play.
But now it is Cavani's chance to shine. He was a dominant goal scorer at Napoli and now he is at a similar situation with Uruguay. He is now the main man.
In a group with teams that have some weak defences in Paraguay and Jamaica - as well as a very inconsistent one in Argentina - Cavani can really show his world class. A strong performance at the Copa America can allow him to secure a transfer out of Paris as he will be sought after if he performs well.
The absence of Suarez has left Uruguay searching for answers and Cavani may be what the team needs. If he has a good showing in the Copa America, maybe his play may impact where he plays next year as well.