Uruguay to brake Australia in World Cup play-off, says winger

Uruguayan winger, Diego Perez, told local media on Thursday that his team's mantra for Saturday's World Cup playoff match was to prevent all Australian goals, in the Uruguay leg of the compeition.

The winner of the two-leg playoff will qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The two teams met under the same conditions in 2001 when Uruguay qualified for the Seoul-Tokyo World Cup of 2002.

Perez, who plays as a defender for French league team Monaco, returns to Uruguay's international selection after missing the games against Ecuador and Argentina due to injury.

He said that an away goal would place a lot of conditions on the return match, which will be played in Sydney next week. The 25-year-old winger said he would aim for Australia's goal at the same time as defending Uruguay's.

The Monaco defender said that he expected the stadium to be tense on Saturday, because Urguay was playing with its two final chances. However, he said that the players were optimistic, adding that if they play well, and their plans work out, a positive result is assured.

He said he thought Australia's strategy would be to close their goal and so Uruguay would have to pressure their rivals, while preventing a counterattack.

Source: Xinhua