As Luis Suárez went through the training session at the Estádio Castelão, on the eve of Uruguay’s opening World Cup tie against Costa Rica, it was tempting to wonder what all the fuss has been about. The striker completed the stretches and the runs, the quick passing and the keep-ball routines, and he smiled and he mucked about with his team-mates.

In short, he looked fine. Is it really just three weeks or so since he underwent keyhole knee surgery to plunge his nation into a state of anxiety; into one of those modern football situations where the daily injury update can feel like the only story in town.

But, according to Óscar Tabárez, the Uruguay manager and the man whose opinion probably matters the most, Suárez is not fine. Not yet, anyway. Tabárez took the strong move of naming the team that he expects to face Costa Rica at his pre-match press conference and it featured Diego Forlán up front alongside Edinson Cavani, rather than Suárez.

Tabárez said that Suárez had also trained fully on Thursday, that there had been no “glitches” in his recovery. There remained a little bit of time before the kick-off against Costa Rica, when victory over the Group D minnows feels essential. The situation might change, Tabárez warned.

But it did not sound as though Suárez would make any sort of last-minute burst into the XI and the likelihood remains that he could come on as a substitute and his first start will have to wait until the England tie in São Paulo next Thursday.

“He actually played football [on Thursday] with his team-mates,” Tabárez said. “Obviously, it was not at the level of demand that you would see in a match but you can never play at that level in a training session. We don’t want to jump the gun on Luis and we have prepared this match without counting on him. It would be wonderful to have him in top form but we have to be very careful. He is recovering very well, we are delighted about that but we have to manage things very carefully indeed.”

Tabárez projected confidence and the only talk of drama came from Fernando Muslera, who reflected on finding a swarm of ants in his hotel bed on Thursday night. The goalkeeper sought a clean sheet.

Tabárez made the point that his squad contained 23 players, rather than just one and all of them would be needed during the World Cup, as they were in 2010, when Uruguay reached the semi-finals. He was interested only in dealing with “concrete” factors, such as the approach of his team and he added that he had no time for all the talk here of Uruguay being a “ghost” for Brazil, after their famous victory over them in the 1950 final, when the tournament was last held in this country.

“This thing about the ghost is a publicity thing, very popular for fans but we are professionals,” Tabárez said. “It would be wonderful to play against Brazil because that would mean we have got out of the group. My friend [Luiz Felipe] Scolari said that the most difficult match Brazil played at the Confederations Cup [last summer] was against us. We are dependent on our will and nothing else.”

Costa Rica may have a score to settle with Uruguay after the play-off for the last World Cup, when they lost 2-1 over two legs. “Costa Rica will go out to win, as they did in that play-off,” Muslera said. “But this will be a completely different match.”