Australia qualified for next year’s World Cup after beating Uruguay 4-2 on penalties in Wednesday’s South America/Oceania playoff second leg.
Australia levelled the scores on aggregate through a first half strike from Marco Bresciano.
Uruguay arrived in Sydney with a 1-0 lead from the first leg, but after Bresciano brought the scores level, they always looked the more likely team to go on and win the tie.
However, despite exerting pressure and coming close on a number of occasions, Guus Hiddink’s team were unable to break down a stubborn Uruguayan defence, forcing the tie to be settled by a penalty shootout.
Harry Kewell, Lucas Neill, Tony Vidmar also scored in the shoot-out for Australia while captain Mark Viduka missed.
Gustavo Varela and Fabian Estoyanoff scored for Uruguay but Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer saved shots from Dario Rodriguez and Marcelo Zalayeta.
Match details:
Australia 1-0 Uruguay (1-1 on aggregate)
Scorer: Marco Bresciano 36
Penalty shoot-out
Australia – 4
Harry Kewell scores
Lucas Neill scores
Tony Vidmar scores
Mark Viduka misses
John Aloisi scores
Uruguay – 2
Dario Rodriguez saved
Gustavo Varela scores
Fabian Estoyanoff scores
Marcelo Zalayeta saved
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