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

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
Weather	Clear 22 °C (72 °F)
Second leg
Australia Uruguay 1 0
Date	16 November 2005
Venue	Telstra Stadium, Sydney
Referee	Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)
Attendance	82,698
Weather	Mostly cloudy 17 °C (63 °F)

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. It still remains as the only match where a country has qualified for the FIFA World Cup Finals on a penalty shoot out.

The games were played on 12 and 16 November 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 10 September 2005. Australia finally won a FIFA World Cup play-off 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 standings	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 UTC−2

Uruguay	1–0	Australia
Rodríguez 37'	(Report)

Estadio Centenario, Montevideo

Attendance: 55,000

Referee: Claus Bo Larsen (Denmark)

URUGUAY: GK 1 Fabián Carini DF 6 Luis Diego López DF 4 Paolo Montero (c) DF 3 Darío Rodríguez  90+1' MF 8 Carlos Diogo  64' MF 5 Pablo 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 Rodríguez  64' MF 7 Marcelo Sosa MF 20 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

OFFICIALS Assistant referees: Bill Hansen (Denmark) Anders Norrestrand (Denmark) Fourth official: Nicolai Vollquartz (Denmark)

MATCH RULES 90 minutes 3 (of 7) substitutions permitted

Second leg

16 November 2005

20:00 UTC+11

Australia	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Uruguay
Bresciano 35'	(Report)
Penalties
Kewell Neill Vidmar Viduka Aloisi	4–2	Rodríguez Varela Estoyanoff Zalayeta

Telstra Stadium, Sydney

Attendance: 82,698

Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)

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 (c)  81' 5 Pablo García  76' 6 Guillermo 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

OFFICIALS Assistant referees: Víctoriano Giráldez Carrasco (Spain) Pedro Medina Hernández (Spain) Fourth official: Julián Rodríguez Santiago (Spain)

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

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 beating Japan 3–1 in their opening match, Australia lost 2–0 to Brazil and in the final match they also drew 2–2 with Croatia, finishing second in the group on four points. In the Round of 16, Australia were defeated 1–0 by the eventual champions, Italy.