Abreu goal sees Uruguay through

Uruguay struggled to tame Costa Rica before booking their place in the World Cup finals with a 1-1 draw at home in the second leg of their South America/CONCACAF play-off on Wednesday night.

The Uruguayans went through 2-1 on aggregate after winning the first leg in San Jose on Saturday, returning to the finals in South Africa next year after missing the 2006 tournament in Germany.

Substitute striker Sebastian Abreu headed home with 20 minutes to go to put Uruguay ahead, sparking huge celebrations by the home team, their bench and the packed Centenario terraces.

But just three minutes later midfielder Walter Centeno, the Costa Rica captain, restored the Central Americans' hopes of an upset when he stunned Uruguay with an equaliser.

The match was held up for nearly five minutes near the end because of fighting between a Uruguay camera crew near the touchline and the Costa Rica bench amid a nervous denouement dominated by Costa Rica but with near misses at both ends.

At the final whistle, the celebrations broke out again as the Uruguayans, who won the second of their world titles in 1950, released their emotions at the relief of having qualified.

"The qualification series was very tough and this match confirmed that," Uruguay coach Oscar Washington Tabarez said afterwards.

Abreu said: "When Tabarez called me to go on, I was very happy and dreamed of this goal and I was able to help the team reach the World Cup."

Uruguay captain Diego Lugano told reporters: "It's incredible to have to suffer so much to get to a World Cup but it appears we're destined to that."

Costa Rica coach Rene Simoes questioned the motives of the Uruguayan camera crew whose touch-line fracas with his bench stole the South American team's momentum during the match.

Simoes thought the momentum in the match had swung to his team after Centeno had cancelled out Abreu's goal. But the altercation between a Uruguayan camera crew and the Costa Rican bench players halted the match for almost five minutes.

"I don't know how the press gets access to fight," Simoes told reporters.

"We didn't have the malice that the Uruguayans had. After we equalised (on Wednesday), the match was halted when we were playing at our best."