Uruguay earns 32nd and final World Cup berth

Uruguay earns 32nd and final World Cup berth

Published Nov. 20, 2013 8:17 p.m. ET

Uruguay claimed the 32nd and final berth at next year's World Cup, tying Jordan 0-0 Wednesday night for a 5-0 aggregate win in the South American-Asian playoff.

Uruguay, a two-time world champion, won the first leg last week in Jordan and defended compactly throughout the second leg.

With a population of only 3.3 million, will be among the eight seeded teams for the draw on Dec. 6 along with host Brazil, defending champion Spain, Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Germany and Switzerland.

This was the 816th match since qualifying began when Montserrat played Belize in June 15, 2011, a process that narrowed 203 nations down to 31 to join Brazil, which qualified automatically as host.

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Robin van Persie of the Netherlands, Luis Suarez of Uruguay and Deon McCaulay of Belize shared the lead for goals in 2014 qualifying with 11 each. There were 2,334 goals, an average of 2.86 per match, up from 2.75 in 2010 qualifying but down from 2.91 in 2006.

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