URUGUAY: SOCCER - Australian football team insulted by Uruguayan fans on their arrival in Montevideo for the World Cup qualifier

Record ID: 351673

  • Title: URUGUAY: SOCCER - Australian football team insulted by Uruguayan fans on their arrival in Montevideo for the World Cup qualifier
  • Date: 11th November 2005
  • Summary: MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY (NOVEMBER 11, 2005) (REUTERS) BUS TRAVELING ALONG THE URUGUAYAN COAST, ESCORTED BY POLICE PATROLS AND AMBULANCE BUS TRAVELING ALONG THE URUGUAYAN COAST BUS ARRIVING AT THE RADISSON HOTEL WHERE THE AUSTRALIAN DELEGATION WILL BE STAYING IN MONTEVIDEO PRESS AND POLICE OUTSIDE THE HOTEL VARIOUS OF PLAYERS GETTING OFF THE BUS SURROUNDED BY A CORDON OF POLICE
  • Embargoed: 26th November 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Uruguay
  • Country: Uruguay
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA9596D44Z2OMAUMQSFRF23NUFQ
  • Story Text: The Australian soccer team arrived in Montevideo on Friday (November 1) ahead of Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Uruguay. The two teams come face to face four years after Uruguay defeated Australia to qualify for the 2002 World Cup.
    This time Australia will be looking to ensure that history doesn't repeat itself, with their sights firmly set on the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
    Apart from their elimination from the World Cup, the 2001 clash left a bitter taste for the Australian team, as they were spit on and pushed by Uruguayan fans on arrival in Montevideo.
    For this reason, the so-called "soccerroos" decided to train in Buenos Aires, and have even threatened to leave the field if the game turns aggressive. The Uruguayan government sent out a police escort on a par with that supplied for a presidential visit, to protect the team on their arrival, and the bus carrying the players was escorted to the Hotel Radisson where they will be staying.
    But the strong police presence didn't stop Uruguay fans from haranguing the visitors as they arrived at the hotel. As the players got off the bus, Uruguayans shouted insults at the Australian team which went straight into the hotel. Australia's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink had been training his team in Argentina since their arrival in South America on Monday night (November 7).
    The game will be played at 6pm local time in Montevideo's Centenario Stadium, to a crowd of 60,000. The two teams will face each other in Sydney again four days later.
    Uruguay came in fifth in their South American group, after Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay all of which qualified directly for the games. Australia came first in the Oceania group, but must beat Uruguay to qualify for a World Cup position. The two sides have been at each other's throats from the moment it became clear they would have to repeat their 2001 play-off clash. On that occasion, Uruguay won 3-1 on aggregate thanks to a 3-0 second-leg win in Montevideo when Australia said they were insulted and spat at on arrival at the airport and that noisy fans outside their hotel stopped them sleeping.
    This time, the sniping began as soon as Uruguay beat Argentina to clinch fifth place in the South American group and qualify for the play-off against Australia, the Oceania region winners. Football Federation Australia (FFA) chief executive John O'Neill said his players would not hesitate to walk off if there was any crowd trouble and decided his team would prepare for the game in neighbouring Argentina. That was followed by a row over the date for the first leg, which Uruguay wanted to bring forward to Friday, and the kickoff time as the South Americans made a botched attempt to gain an advantage.
    Uruguay switched the kickoff from the original 1700 local time to 2100 believing they had fixed up a charter flight to take them to Wednesday's second leg in Sydney and that Australia would be left waiting for a scheduled flight the next day. Instead, Uruguay's charter fell through, the Australians arranged one of their own and the hosts tried to move the kickoff time back to 1700. Australia protested and world soccer's governing body FIFA finally decided on 1800.
    Australia believe that, as Oceania winners, they should qualify directly for Germany 2006. FIFA president Sepp Blatter had promised Oceania an automatic place but this was overturned by his own executive committee in 2003. Bickering apart, Australia, under experienced Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, who led South Korea to the semi-finals in 2002, believe they are now better prepared. Uruguay, who carry the hopes of a small but football-mad nation, will be without suspended defender Diego Lugano while striker Diego Forlan is almost certain to be sidelined by a hamstring injury. Dario Silva, who scored against Australia on their last visit, and Richard Morales, who netted twice after coming off the bench, are set to start.

    Possible teams:
    Uruguay: Fabian Carini; Carlos Diogo, Diego Lopez, Paolo Montero, Dario Rodriguez; Diego Perez, Pablo Garcia, Alvaro Recoba; Marcelo Zalayeta, Richard Morales, Dario Silva.
    Argentina: Mark Schwarzer; Tony Vidmar, Ljubo Milicevic, Lucas Neill, Scott Chipperfield; Harry Kewell, Marco Bresciano, Vince Grella, Brett Emerton; John Aloisi, Mark Viduka.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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