Dirty Uruguayans....
 

AUSTRALIAN players yesterday provided extraordinary accounts of Uruguayan players trying to put them off with verbal and physical abuse in the tunnel before Wednesday night's game as the two teams lined up to take the field.

Socceroo striker John Aloisi said his teammate, defender Tony Popovic, and Uruguayan striker Richard Morales ended up at each other's throats.

"Poppa and Morales had a bit of a tussle in the tunnel before the game," Aloisi said. "They grabbed each other by the neck.

"Even when we were going out on the pitch, there was a bit of push and shove, but we knew what to expect from them.

"We copped that sort of stuff four years ago from them. They try to put you off your game like that, but we had to rise above it and not let it worry us."

Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer said the unsettling tactics by the Uruguayans might have shocked some of the younger Socceroos at the time, but that the senior players made it their job to settle them back down.

"There was a lot of jeering and a lot of verbal assaults in the tunnel," Schwarzer said.

"There was even a case of one of their players lashing out at one of our players with his foot.

"Some of the boys were a bit taken aback by it, but the senior players were turning around to the younger players and saying, 'Listen, that's part and parcel, they're trying to put us off our game'.

"We were telling the younger guys to just ignore them, go out on the pitch and show them what we can do."

Popovic said he could hear the Uruguayans' verbal abuse, but did not let it bother him.

"They were being very vocal, trying to get us off our guard," he said. "It's a different mentality with them, but it didn't work."

Uruguayan coach Jorge Fossati and star attacker Alvaro Recoba fired barbs at the Socceroos in the lead-up to the return leg.

"We didn't take any notice of that garbage," said Socceroo captain Mark Viduka. "All we were thinking about was what we had to do on the night."

But was the Uruguayan attempt to psyche the Australians out an indication of confidence or concern on the part of the visitors? Popovic believes it was the latter.

"Recoba can say whatever he wants. If you're put off by that sort of stuff, then you shouldn't be out there," Popovic said.

"I think all the stuff they were going on with was a sign that they were concerned about their own situation. They said they were happy with a one-goal lead after the first leg, but deep down they knew it wasn't enough.

"Talking about the other team's game instead of your own game, that's a sign of weakness."