Uruguay have one foot in the World Cup finals next summer after overcoming Jordan 5-0 in the first leg of their intercontinental playoff on Wednesday.

The South American outfit entered the away leg as strong favourites, boasting a forward line that included Liverpool's Luis Suarez and Paris Saint-Germain's Edinson Cavani.

Suarez had the game's first opportunity after 15 minutes, but the striker could only fire high and wide of the crossbar following bright work from Cristian Rodriguez.

Uruguay were ahead after 22 minutes, however, when Maxi Pereira capitalised on some slack Jordan defending to turn home from close range.

The home side struggled for chances in the first period, with Martin Silva's low save to deny Odai Alsaify the only piece of serious action for the Uruguay stopper in the opening 45 minutes.

Uruguay were 2-0 ahead in the latter stages of the first half when Espanyol forward Cristian Stuani rolled his effort into the bottom corner.

Jordan had a golden chance to cut the deficit to 2-1 in the early stages of the second half, but somehow Ahmad Ibrahim fired wide from close range.

Musab Al Laham then saw a long-range strike just whistle wide of the post on the hour mark, but Uruguay had their third after 69 minutes when Nicolas Lodeiro found the back of the net following good work from Cavani.

Uruguay had their fourth 10 minutes from time when Rodriguez collected a loose ball inside the box before lashing his effort into the bottom corner.

The scoring was not finished, however, as Cavani's free kick in stoppage time made it five goals without reply for the away side.

Written by
Matt Law