Home / China / Sports

Uruguay last team to qualify for Brazil

By Reuters in Montevideo | China Daily | Updated: 2013-11-22 07:53

Uruguay sealed its spot at the 2014 World Cup finals after a goalless draw at home to Jordan in the second leg of its intercontinental playoff on Wednesday saw it advance 5-0 on aggregate.

Uruguay, the last of the 32 teams to book its place at the finals, all but secured its berth with a 5-0 victory in the first leg in Amman last week.

"We are all happy because the truth is it has been a hard road," striker Edinson Cavani said.

"We have to enjoy it."

Leftback Martin Caceres said winning the first leg by such a big margin had made it harder to concentrate in the second.

"After winning 5-0 it was going to get complicated, we knew we had to take the match seriously," he said. "We'd have liked to give the crowd a triumph and at least one goal to shout about but it wasn't to be, that's football."

Despite needing to score at least five to have any hope of overturning the deficit, Jordan defended deep and in numbers on Wednesday, denying the South Americans scoring chances and making sure there would be no repeat of the 5-0 mauling.

The closest the home side came to scoring was when centerback Diego Godin headed against the bar just before halftime, but the lack of goals failed to dampen celebrations on the pitch or among the crowd of 60,000 in the stands.

"(Jordan) got what they wanted, a dignified role and a result that I suppose for them is very important," coach Oscar Tabarez said.

"We must accept ... that the main reason why we couldn't win was our rival's good tactics."

Jordan's Egyptian coach, Hossam Hassan, was pleased with his team's reaction to its punishing defeat at home.

"We played very well, we met a very good team, very strong," Hassan said.

"I want Uruguay to have a good World Cup in Brazil."

 

Editor's picks