La Celeste completely dominated; indeed, when the whistle blew for half-time, it was incredible that the score was only 1-0, as Diego Aguirre’s side had hit the woodwork on no fewer than three occasions. Santiago Garcia clipped the outside of the upright after his outstretched boot made contact with the ball from an acute angle. Shortly after that, Mauricio Pereya clipped the top of the bar with a dipping long-range effort. Leandro Cabrera also saw his shot kept out by a lick of paint and Gaston Ramirez hit the inside of the post with a low drive that fizzed across the face of goal.

Uruguay laid siege to the central Asians’ goal. Adrian Gunino went close, as did Garcia on a few occasions, but they were denied by some excellent goalkeeping by Sanjar Kuvvatov. In fact, it took something special to break the deadlock. Receiving the ball 25 yards from goal, Lodeiro looked up and hit a first time left-footed shot which sailed past the goalkeeper and into the net. A minute later, things became even worse for Uzbekistan when Gulom Urunov was shown a straight red card for a rash challenge on Diego Rodriguez.

In fact, during the 90 minutes, Uzbekistan were limited to just two chances: a low shot from Sanat Shikov, which Martin Rodriguez turned around the post, and a Darvron Mirzaev chance that the Wanderers keeper did well to keep out with his legs. At the other end, Sebastian Coates hit the bar with a header from a Jonathan Urretaviscaya corner.

Shortly after the hour-mark, Aguirre sent on Tabare Viudez, Uruguay’s matchwinner from the 1-0 win over England, to replace Lodeiro, La Celeste’s captain and goalscorer. His impact was almost instant. Receiving the ball on the right wing, he ran with pace at the Uzbek defence and crossed for Urretaviscaya to turn the ball home, which was a reversal of the combination that proved so deadly against the Three Lions.

Viudez was at the heart of the heart of things again when he slipped the ball to Garcia inside the area and he was brought down by Kuvvatov, who was booked for his troubles. The striker picked himself up to take the penalty, but hit the post for the second time in the match. However, the Nacional striker finally got his goal seven minutes from time when he reacted sharply to Coates’s flick-on to steer the ball home.