Australia–Uruguay football rivalry
International football rivalry / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Australia–Uruguay association football rivalry is a historical rivalry between the Australian and Uruguayan national teams that dates back to 1974[2][3] when Uruguay travelled to Australia for a 2-game series before Australia departed for the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Despite Australia winning both matches, they were marred with foul play by the Uruguayans, which left Australian forward Ray Baartz suffering a stroke after having his carotid artery damaged following an incident with Luis Garisto.[4] The incident cause Baartz to miss the World Cup and retire from the game for health concerns. Between 2001 and 2005 the rivalry would come to the forefront of Australian and Uruguayan relations as both nations played each other in consecutive FIFA World Cup play-off matches. Uruguay would win the 2001 play-offs for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, whilst Australia would win the 2005 play offs for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which has been called the best moment in Australian sporting history as Australia qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in 32 years.[5][6] To date, the two nations women's national teams are yet to play each other.
Other names | Socceroos vs La Celeste (The Sky Blue) |
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Location | Australia (AFC) Uruguay (CONMEBOL) |
Teams | Australia men's Uruguay men's |
First meeting | Men: Australia 0-0 Uruguay (24 April 1974) |
Latest meeting | Men: Australia 1–2 Uruguay (1 June 2007)[1] |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | Men: 9 |
All-time series | Men: Australia: 4 Uruguay: 4 Draws: 1 |
Largest victory | Men: Uruguay 3–0 Australia (25 November 2001) |