Uruguay Crush Jordan

Uruguay all but secured their place in next year’s World Cup in Brazil as they ran out comfortable 5-0 winners over Jordan in their first-leg qualifier at the Amman International Stadium.

Jordan had the first shot of the game in the fourth minute when Adnan Adous tried his luck from outside the box; the striker’s shot though was comfortably held by Martín Silva in the Uruguay goal.

Odai Al Saify then had a cross-cum-shot well stopped by Silva with just under 20 minutes played, but the Uruguay goalkeeper did well to prevent the deflected attempt from creeping in at the near post.

Uruguay did take the lead after creating little in the opening exchanges through Maxi Pereira. The defender slid in a loose ball after striker Edison Cavani’s header had forced a good save from Jordon keeper Mohammed Shatnawi after getting on the end of a Christian Stuani cross with just over 20 minutes on the clock.

The goal seemed to settle the South American’s as they started to dominate possession with them overshadowing their hosts’ 55%-45% with the game just a half-hour in.

The Jordanian side started to look frustrated as they could not carve an opening through the Uruguayan defence and had to resort to long range attempts, with Saeed Al-Murjan having a 36th minute shot go well wide.

Edison Cavani was at the heart of the South American’s second goal as he ducked under a throw-in from the right and left the ball for Cristian Rodriguez to chip over the home side’s defence and in the path of Stuani who makes no mistake with the finish.

The hosts started off the second-half stronger than their opponents and had their best chance of the game in the 50th minute. Adnan Adous broke down the right and delivered the ball into the six-yard box for Hayel only has to tap it in, but somehow the striker sticks it past the near post.

Uruguay then killed off the game scoring their third of the qualifier when Cavani ran on to a Luis Saurez through ball, skipped past Shatnawi and cut the ball back for Nicolás Lodeiro to slot home.

The South Americans who have surely now booked their place in Brazil, then scored a fourth of the game when Egidio Arévalo found space on the left and floated in a cross for Cristian Rodriguez to volley home.

The ever impressive Cavani finally got onto the score-sheet and scored a well-deserved goal when he struck an unstoppable free-kick in stoppage time to put the icing on the cake for the Uruguayans, leaving Jordon with an almost impossible task in the second-leg.