Uruguay is with one foot in the second round of the World Cup 2010 after beating hosts South Africa in the Loftus Versfeld Stadium of Pretoria. Uruguay scored three goals in the opening match of the second game-day, and could advance to the round of 16 even with a loss against Mexico (but needs a tie to be sure). South Africa on the other hands must beat France in their last game to avoid becoming the first host nation in history that could not get past the group stage.
Uruguay was the better team on the field right from the start of the game, with Luis Suárez and Diego Forlán creating problems to South Africa’s defence. After a couple of small chances Uruguay scored a lucky goal when Forlán’s 30 meter shot bounced off the back of Aaron Mokoena to end up inside the net. Diego Forlán became the first player after 1954 to score goals in two separate World Cup tournaments for Uruguay (he had also scored a goal against Senegal in 2002).
South Africa came back after the goal to balance the game, but had no solutions against Uruguay’s well set-up defence. The host country had their first classic chance of the match in 67′, but Katlego Mphela’s header barely missed the target. At 76′ Forlán attempted another long shot, and the ball ended up to Suárez that tried to dribble past South Africa’s goalkeeper. Itumeleng Khune made the penalty, received a red card, and left his national team with 10 for the rest of the game.
Four minutes later and after Moeneeb Josephs got in as a substitution for South Africa, Diego Forlán successfully hit the penalty while giving to Uruguay their first World Cup victory after 20 years. Five minutes into overtime Álvaro Pereira scored number three for Uruguay, that is now very close to the second round of the 2010 World Cup.
