I got to Saldivia’s South American Grill on Westheimer just in time for the Uruguay-South Africa World Cup kickoff. There are plenty of South American places in town, but I wanted to make it to Saldivia’s because its owners are Uruguayans.

As Uruguayan author and soccer philosopher Eduardo Galeano has written, Uruguyans are a “footballized people."

Despite being a country of only three million inhabitants (today), Uruguay was the original soccer royalty. They won the first World Cup in 1930, and repeated in 1950 — in Brazil, against the Brazilians! But they didn’t make the tournament at all in 2006, and haven’t been past the group stage since 1990.

That’s apparently about to change. Uruguay's 3-0 victory over South Africa was well deserved, and it puts them on track to advance to the knockout rounds. The victory was definitely enjoyed by the 20 or so “footballized” Uruguayans who watched the game at Saldivia’s.

Gus Saldivia and his father “Cachito” owned Chimichurri’s on Bellaire Boulevard back in the 1990s until the strip center it was housed in was demolished. They’ve now reopened with essentially the same menu, featuring all the South American good stuff — empanadas, ribs, churrascos, blood sausage, entraña (skirt steak), grilled vegetables, and milanesas.

Gus Saldivia works the front of the house while his 72-year-old father is in the kitchen. Saldivia told me that there are two or three thousand Uruguayan families living in Houston. “With NewYork, Miami, and Atlanta, Houston has the most (Uruguayans).”

Unlike me, the South Americans let their steaks get cold until halftime, by which time a booming Diego Forlan strike had them up 1-0 and the could enjoy their meals. The game got chippy in the second half, as the now 0-1-1 South Africans perhaps gave in to the pressure that they were going to disappoint their countrymen by not making it to the second round. (No host team has ever failed to advance that far before.)

The Uruguayans got banged around pretty well, and one fellow even lost a tooth.

With his good looks and charisma, Forlan, who scored twice, has real star power. He carried Atletico Madrid to one of the lesser European championships this year, defeating Clint Dempsey’s Fulham team in the finals. I look forward to seeing more of him and his solid national team this summer.