Ajax striker Luis Suarez headed Uruguay into a 1-0 half-time lead over Mexico in the teams’ final Group A match at the World Cup on Tuesday.
With both sides needing a draw to advance to the last 16, there had been predictions the match would degenerate into a tame stalemate.
Those fears were dispelled as the tackles flew in from the start and the Uruguayans might easily have been three goals ahead by the break.
They should have taken a sixth minute lead after a fluffed clearance by Hector Moreno left Suarez with only Mexican goalkeeper Oscar Perez to beat but the forward dragged his shot from the right of the goalmouth beyond the far post.
Mexico’s best early chance fell to West Ham’s Guillermo Franco, who was played into the box by Cuauhtemoc Blanco’s chip but failed to get a shot away.
Another chance for Uruguay went begging in the 19th minute when Mauricio Victorino headed Diego Forlan’s corner over the bar from an unmarked position on the edge of the six-yard box.
The Uruguayans were bossing the game but Mexico came agonisingly close to opening the scoring when Andres Guardado, in for the suspended Erwain Juarez, struck the under-side of the bar with a swerving left foot drive from 30 yards out.
Giovani Dos Santos then wriggled clear inside the area but Jorge Fucile recovered with a superb last-ditch tackle to snuff out the danger.
Uruguay finally took the lead two minutes before the interval when Edinson Cavani got free on the right. His delivery to the back post was impeccable and Suarez had the simplest of tasks in nodding the ball past Perez.
