November 25, 2001	Sunday	Ramazan 9, 1422

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

MONTEVIDEO, Nov 24: Passions are running high and are expected to reach boiling point Sunday as Australia and Uruguay fight for the final 2002 World Cup berth in a decisive playoff at the Centenario Stadium here.

The last of the 32 spots for next year’s finals in Japan and South Korea will be decided by the second leg playoff between Oceania’s champion and the fifth-placed team from South American qualifying, Uruguay.

Australia took a 1-0 lead in the first leg in Melbourne, but the Uruguayans’ fighting spirit brought them two World Cup titles in 1930, when they hosted the competition, and 1950.

And the Australians were given a taste of the battle that awaits them when they were jostled and jeered by rowdy fans as they arrived at Carrasco airport Wednesday.

Uruguayan football federation president Eugenio Figueredeo issued a hasty apology, claiming the perpetrators were professional thugs, and he assured the visitors that security would be beefed up with 800 police officers at the stadium.

Australia coach Frank Farina described the airport incident as “disgusting.”

“We were expecting another kind of welcome and I think that the security was not enough. What happened was not civilized,” said Farina.

“We only came to play a soccer match,” he said.

Uruguay sees this as not just a soccer match, but a chance to put itself back among the world’s football elite.

The first-leg defeat got an angry reception back home with 20 people injured and 74 people arrested, which is one of the reasons the Uruguayan squad were preparing their return leg onslaught away from the spotlight in the tranquility of the seaside resort of Punta del Este, 140km from the capital.

The match kicks off at 4.00 pm (1900 GMT) and the home side must win by a goal difference of two to qualify. If the match finishes 1-0 to Uruguay after 90 minutes, extra time will be played.

Uruguayan Coach Victor Pua was optimistic of a positive result.

“It’s clear that we can win against them. Just as they beat us 1-0 in 90 minutes we can turn things around,” said Pua.

The South American defence will be pitted against Leeds United pair Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka and the Feyenoord midfielder Brett Emerton.

But Viduka admitted that the Australians have a battle on their hands, particularly with experienced defender Craig Moore uncertain with a foot injury.

“In the second match it will be very difficult, because Uruguay are a good team,” said Viduka. “But we came here to clinch qualification for the World Cup, so we will do our best to achieve that.”

And the striker added: “The main thing is to score one goal. In Australia we played pretty well, but we can do better and we hope that will happen on Sunday.”

Australia may not have played in the World Cup finals since 1974, but there is a belief here that the Socceroos have assembled their finest team under home-grown national coach Farina.

Farina believes his side will come under intense early pressure.

“If we can weather the storm for the first 20 or 25 minutes that will be an advantage for us because the crowd will want something early,” said Farina.

Uruguay’s defence, marshalled by Paolo Montero of Italian giants Juventus, will be bidding to block the path of Kewell and Viduka, and will be counting on key striker Dario Silva and Inter Milan’s Alvaro Recoba to grab goals.

If Uruguay qualify then the World Cup finals draw in the South Korean city of Busan on Dec 1 will include all the former World Cup champions — the Uruguayans, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, England and defending champions France.

Likely teams:

Uruguay: Fabian Carini, Alejandro Lembo, Paolo Montero, Gonzalo Sorondo, Gianni Guigou, Pablo Garcia, Gonzalo de los Santosy Dario Rodriguez, Alvaro Recoba, Dario Silva (Diego Alonso), Federico Magallanes (Richard Morales).

Australia: Mark Schwarzer, Kevin Muscat, Craig Moore, Shaun Murphy, Tony Vidmar, Brett Emerton, Paulo Okon, Josip Skoko, Harry Kewell, Paul Agostino (Stan Lazaridis), Mark Viduka.—AFP