2006 FIFA World Cup qualification

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
(CONMEBOL – OFC play-off)

John Aloisi taking the decisive penalty
Event	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
Uruguay Australia 1 1
1–1 on aggregate, Australia won 4–2 on penalties
First Leg
Uruguay Australia 1 0
Date	12 November 2005
Venue	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
Referee	Claus Bo Larsen (Denmark)
Attendance	55,000
Second Leg
Australia Uruguay 1 0
Date	16 November 2005
Venue	Telstra Stadium, Sydney
Referee	Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)
Attendance	82,698

The 2006 FIFA World Cup CONMEBOL – OFC 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 November 12 and November 16 of 2005 in Montevideo and Sydney respectively. With the home team winning 1–0 in both matches, the aggregate score was tied 1–1, and, with no away goal advantage, the play-off was decided by a penalty shootout, which Australia won 4–2 in order to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the first time since the 1974 tournament.

It was the second consecutive FIFA World Cup where the two sides had played each other for a place in the tournament. On the first occasion in 2001, Uruguay won 3–1 on aggregate. The draw for determining the order of the home and away legs was made at a FIFA congress on September 10, 2005. Australia finally won a FIFA World Cup play-off at the after losing to Scotland (1986), Argentina (1994), Iran (1998) and Uruguay (2002).

Background

Uruguay		Round	Australia
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Brazil 18 9 7 2 35 17 18 34  Argentina 18 10 4 4 29 17 12 34  Ecuador 18 8 4 6 23 19 4 28  Paraguay 18 8 4 6 23 23 0 28  Uruguay 18 6 7 5 23 28 −5 25		Final standing	Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Australia 5 4 1 0 21 3 18 13  Solomon Islands 5 3 1 1 9 6 3 10  New Zealand 5 3 0 2 17 5 12 9  Fiji 5 1 1 3 3 10 −7 4  Tahiti 5 1 1 3 2 24 −22 4  Vanuatu 5 1 0 4 5 9 −4 3
		Final Round (OFC)	Opponent	Result
		1st Leg	Solomon Islands (H)	7–0
		2nd Leg	Solomon Islands (A)	2–1

Play-off Match

First Leg

12 November 2005 18:00	Uruguay	1 – 0	Australia	Estadio Centenario, Montevideo Attendance: 55,000 Referee: Claus Bo Larsen (Denmark)
	Rodríguez  37'	(Report)

URUGUAY: GK 1 Fabián Carini DF 5 Luis Diego López DF 4 Paolo Montero (c) DF 3 Darío Rodríguez 90+1' MF 6 Carlos Diogo 64' MF 8 Pablo Gabriel García MF 15 Diego Pérez MF 21 Diego Forlán 19' MF 9 Álvaro Recoba FW 17 Marcelo Zalayeta 64' FW 18 Richard Morales Substitutions: GK 12 Sebastián Viera DF 2 Guillermo Daniel Rodríguez 64' MF 7 Marcelo Sosa MF 20 Juan Martín Parodi FW 10 Darío Silva 24' 19' FW 11 Mario Regueiro FW 13 Fabián Estoyanoff 64' Manager: Jorge Fossati

AUSTRALIA: GK 1 Mark Schwarzer DF 5 Tony Vidmar DF 2 Lucas Neill DF 6 Tony Popovic MF 7 Brett Emerton MF 19 Jason Culina MF 3 Scott Chipperfield MF 13 Vince Grella 90+1' MF 10 Harry Kewell FW 14 Archie Thompson 52' FW 9 Mark Viduka (c) 80' Substitutions: GK 18 Željko Kalac DF 12 Ljubo Miličević MF 4 Tim Cahill MF 8 Josip Skoko MF 20 Luke Wilkshire MF 23 Mark Bresciano 52' FW 15 John Aloisi 80' Manager: Guus Hiddink

Second Leg

16 November 2005 20:00	Australia	1 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Uruguay	Telstra Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 82,698 Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)
	Bresciano  35'	(Report)
		Penalties
	Kewell Neill Vidmar Viduka Aloisi	4 – 2	Rodríguez Varela Estoyanoff Zalayeta

AUSTRALIA: GK 1 Mark Schwarzer DF 2 Lucas Neill DF 6 Tony Popovic 27' 31' DF 5 Tony Vidmar 39' MF 23 Mark Bresciano 96' MF 4 Tim Cahill MF 3 Scott Chipperfield MF 19 Jason Culina 53' MF 7 Brett Emerton 110' MF 13 Vince Grella FW 9 Mark Viduka (c) Substitutions: GK 18 Željko Kalac DF 11 Stan Lazaridis DF 12 Ljubo Miličević MF 8 Josip Skoko 110' MF 10 Harry Kewell 86' 31' FW 14 Archie Thompson FW 15 John Aloisi 96' Manager: Guus Hiddink

URUGUAY: GK 1 Fabián Carini 2 Diego Lugano 3 Darío Rodríguez 67' 4 Paolo Montero 81' 5 Pablo Gabriel García 76' 6 Guillermo Daniel Rodríguez 7 Gustavo Varela 8 Carlos Diogo 45+1' 9 Álvaro Recoba 72' 11 Mario Regueiro 44' 97' 18 Richard Morales 110' Substitutions: GK 12 Sebastián Viera 10 Darío Silva 13 Fabián Estoyanoff 97' 14 Marcelo Sosa 81' 17 Marcelo Zalayeta 72' 19 Gonzalo de los Santos 21 Alejandro Lago Manager: Jorge Fossati

Aftermath

Australia qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals in Germany and were drawn into Group F with defending champions Brazil, Croatia and Japan. After winning Japan 3–1 in their opening match, Australia lost 2-0 to Brazil an in the final match they also drew 2-2 to Croatia, finishing second in the group on four points. In the Round of 16, Australia was defeated 1–0 by the eventual champions, Italy.

References