2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC–CONMEBOL play-off)

The 2002 FIFA World Cup OFC–CONMEBOL qualification play-off was a two-legged home-and-away tie between the winners of the Oceania qualifying tournament, Australia, and the fifth-placed team from the South American qualifying tournament, Uruguay. The games were played on 20 November and 25 November 2001 in Melbourne and Montevideo respectively. Australia was hoping to play in the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1974 and Uruguay since 1990.

2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
(CONMEBOL–OFC play-off)

Event	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
Australia Uruguay 1 3
(on aggregate)
First leg
Australia Uruguay 1 0
Date	20 November 2001
Venue	MCG, Melbourne
Referee	Graziano Cesari (Italy)
Attendance	84,656
Weather	Partly cloudy 15 °C (59 °F)[1]
Second leg
Uruguay Australia 3 0
Date	25 November 2001
Venue	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
Referee	Ali Bujsaim (UAE)
Attendance	62,000
Weather	Clear 16 °C (61 °F)[2]

In the first leg, Australia beat Uruguay 1–0 in Melbourne while Uruguay took revenge in the second leg, easily defeating Australia 3–0 in Montevideo. Uruguay won the series 3–1 on aggregate, therefore qualifying for the World Cup held in Korea and Japan.^[3][4]

Australian players were spat on, punched and abused by a mob of Uruguayan fans on arrival at Montevideo's international airport for the second leg.^[5]

Venues

Melbourne Cricket Ground (left) and Estadio Centenario, venues for the series

Background

Uruguay		Round	Australia
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Argentina 18 13 4 1 42 15 27 43  Ecuador 18 9 4 5 23 20 3 31  Brazil 18 9 3 6 31 17 14 30  Paraguay 18 9 3 6 29 23 6 30  Uruguay 18 7 6 5 19 13 6 27		Final standings	Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Australia 4 4 0 0 66 0 66 12  Fiji 4 3 0 1 27 4 23 9  Tonga 4 2 0 2 7 30 −23 6  Samoa 4 1 0 3 9 18 −9 3  American Samoa 4 0 0 4 0 57 −57 0
		Final round (OFC)	Opponent	Result
		1st leg	New Zealand (A)	2–0
		2nd leg	New Zealand (H)	4–1

Match details

First leg

2002 FIFA World Cup qualification playoff

20 November 2001

20:15 UTC+11

First leg

Australia	1–0	Uruguay
Muscat 78' (pen.)	(Report)

MCG, Melbourne

Attendance: 84,656

Referee: Graziano Cesari (Italy)

Australia

Uruguay

GK 1 Mark Schwarzer DF 2 Kevin Muscat  85' DF 14 Shaun Murphy DF 3 Craig Moore DF 5 Tony Vidmar MF 7 Brett Emerton MF 4 Paul Okon (c) MF 8 Josip Skoko MF 11 Stan Lazaridis  45' FW 9 Mark Viduka FW 10 Harry Kewell Substitutions: GK 12 Zeljko Kalac DF 6 Tony Popovic DF 16 Steve Horvat MF 13 Mark Bresciano MF 17 Steve Corica FW 18 Paul Agostino  45' FW 21 John Aloisi Manager: Frank Farina

GK 1 Fabián Carini DF 2 Washington Tais DF 3 Alejandro Lembo DF 4 Paolo Montero (c) DF 6 Darío Rodríguez  34' MF 8 Gonzalo de los Santos MF 5 Pablo Gabriel García MF 7 Gianni Guigou MF 20 Álvaro Recoba FW 19 Javier Chevantón  77' FW 11 Federico Magallanes  71' Substitutions: GK 12 Gustavo Munúa DF 14 Joe Bizera MF 10 Nicolás Olivera MF 16 Guillermo Giacomazzi  71' FW 9 Diego Alonso FW 15 Mario Regueiro  77' FW 18 Richard Morales Manager: Víctor Púa

OFFICIALS Assistant referees: Marco Ivaldi (Italy) Aniello Di Mauro (Italy) Fourth official: Cosimo Bolognino (Italy)

MATCH RULES 90 minutes 3 (of 7) substitutions permitted

---

Second leg

25 November 2001

16:00 UTC−3

Second leg

Uruguay	3–0	Australia
Silva 14' Morales 70', 90'	(Report)

Estadio Centenario, Montevideo

Attendance: 62,000

Referee: Ali Bujsaim (UAE)

Uruguay

Australia

GK 1 Fabián Carini  90+3' DF 2 Washington Tais  85' DF 3 Alejandro Lembo DF 4 Paolo Montero (c) DF 6 Darío Rodríguez MF 5 Pablo Gabriel García  66' MF 7 Gianni Guigou MF 10 Mario Regueiro  10'  64' MF 20 Álvaro Recoba FW 9 Darío Silva  81'  81' FW 11 Federico Magallanes  65' Substitutions: GK 12 Gustavo Munúa DF 14 Gonzalo Sorondo  81' MF 8 Gonzalo de los Santos  64'  80' MF 15 Guillermo Giacomazzi MF 16 Nicolás Olivera FW 18 Richard Morales  65'  70' FW 19 Diego Alonso Manager: Víctor Púa

GK 1 Mark Schwarzer DF 2 Kevin Muscat  32'  73' DF 14 Shaun Murphy  81' DF 3 Craig Moore DF 5 Tony Vidmar MF 7 Brett Emerton MF 4 Paul Okon (c) MF 8 Josip Skoko MF 11 Stan Lazaridis FW 9 Mark Viduka FW 10 Harry Kewell Substitutions: GK 12 Zeljko Kalac DF 16 Steve Horvat MF 13 Mark Bresciano MF 17 Steve Corica MF 22 Mile Sterjovski FW 18 Paul Agostino  73' FW 21 John Aloisi  81' Manager: Frank Farina

OFFICIALS Assistant referees: Ahmed Yaqqob Mohamed (UAE) Ali Abdulla Makhlouf (UAE) Fourth official: Musallam Al Bloushi (UAE)

MATCH RULES 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary Penalty shoot-out if scores still level: 3 (of 7) substitutions permitted

Aftermath

Uruguay qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Finals in South Korea and Japan, and were drawn into Group A with defending champions France, Denmark and debutants Senegal. After losing 2–1 to Denmark in their opening match, Uruguay drew France 0–0 and in the final match they also drew 3–3 to Senegal despite being 3–0 down, finishing third in the group on two points.

Australia played in the 2002 OFC Nations Cup qualified automatically. The Socceroos were drawn into a group with Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia and won 2–0, 11–0 and 8–0 respectively, and topped the group, proceeding to the semi-final stage. Against Tahiti, a goal from Damian Mori in extra time secured a 2–1 win and a place in the final against New Zealand. Australia lost 1–0, leaving the side as runners-up and New Zealand qualifying for the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Australia and Uruguay met again in the 2005 CONMEBOL-OFC play-off, with heightened security measures following the 2001 airport incident in Montevideo.^[5] This time, however, Australia came out victorious.