|
 |
| Uruguay's Diego Perez shares his relief with the fans as his team head to South Africa [GALLO/GETTY] |
Uruguay claimed the final spot in next year's 32-team World Cup in South Africa with a 1-1 draw against Costa Rica in Montevideo, to take the two-leg playoff 2-1 on aggregate.
Substitute Sebastian Abreu gave Uruguay a 1-0 lead on a header in the 70th minute, and Walter Centeno levelled in the 74th on a 16-metre strike.
Uruguay took the advantage in the first match 1-0 on Saturday in San Jose.
Costa Rica coach Rene Simoes questioned the motives of a Uruguayan camera crew whose touch-line fracas with his bench stole the Central American team's momentum during the game.
Simoes thought the momentum in the match had swung to his team after captain Walter Centeno had cancelled out Uruguay substitute Sebastian Abreu's goal.
But fighting between a Uruguayan camera crew and the Costa Rican bench players halted the match for almost five minutes.
The Brazilian coach lamented the fight, and suggested a similar tactic in their final Concacaf qualifier against the United States when they were minutes from victory could have worked in their favour.
Early chances
Uruguay had most of the early chances including dangerous strikes from Diego Forlan and Nicolas Lodeiro, which forced key saves from Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
Victor Nunez had Costa Rica's first threatening shot after about 25 minutes. Costa Rica's best chance until their late goal was a shot by Cristian Bolanos from long range that was turned away by Uruguay keeper Fernando Muslera.
Uruguay seemed to have the World Cup berth wrapped up after Abreu's goal, but Centeno's quick strike gave Costa Rica hope and opened up the match
"It was a tough game,'' Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said.
"Our opponents really made us work.
"Right now I want to see these guys celebrate. Really, the achievement is theirs. At one moment we were almost out of the qualifying and now we can enjoy making it.''
Uruguay won the 1930 and 1950 World Cups. They beat Australia in a playoff to reach the 2002 World Cup, and lost a playoff to Australia to miss out in 2006. Costa Rica were trying to reach their third straight finals.
Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Argentina had already advanced from South America. The United States, Mexico and Honduras are the qualifiers from the North and Central American and Caribbean region.
|