The

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

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 Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. The games were played on 20 November and 25 November 2001 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and Montevideo respectively. Australia was hoping to play in the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1974 and Uruguay since

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

. 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.Por la última plaza al Mundial.
on ''La Nación'' (Argentina), 24 Nov 2001 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.

Venues

Background

Match details

First leg

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Second leg

Aftermath

Uruguay qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Finals in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

and Japan, and were drawn into Group A with defending champions

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and debutants

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

. 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 The 2002 OFC Nations Cup took place in New Zealand, between 5 and 14 July 2002. The competition was divided into two group stages, with a knockout tournament at the end. Before the tournament, 11 of the nations were seeded according to their 20 ...

qualified automatically. The Socceroos were drawn into a group with

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

, 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 Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

, a goal from

Damian Mori Damian Mori (born 30 September 1970) is an Australian former football player who is an assistant coach for Adelaide United. He won two Johnny Warren Medals, awarded to the best player in the Australian league and was top scorer on 5 occasions. ...

in extra time secured a 2–1 win and a place in the final against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL-OFC play-off) FIFA Play-off CONMEBOL-OFC FIFA World Cup qualification inter-confederation play-offs Australia national soccer team matches Uruguay national football team matches

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

qual November 2001 sports events in Australia November 2001 sports events in South America Sports competitions in Melbourne Sports competitions in Montevideo 2000s in Melbourne 2000s in Montevideo International association football competitions hosted by Australia International association football competitions hosted by Uruguay