World Cup Group A

Mexico 0 
Uruguay 1 Suarez 43 

For once, the bookies were wrong. The conspiracy theorists who predicted a draw that would put both sides through had been proved wrong long before Luis Suárez gave Uruguay the lead just before half-time. These two sides advanced to the knockout phase, but not quite in the manner predicted.

Uruguay's coach, Oscar Tabárez, said: "Both teams played to win. Some things are necessary. To be honest, for instance, to be sincere." Mexico's Javier Aguirre agreed: "We played to win, we were loyal to our style and the difference was one goal."

In the first half, tackles flew, blood was spilled and there were respectable chances before the Suárez goal that momentarily raised hopes among the South Africans in the crowd that salvation might be at hand. Mexico, for whom Giovani dos Santos was bright and Andrés Guardado busy, could have taken the lead when the latter smacked the ball against the underside of the bar from 30 yards. Moments later, a clever scooped cross from Diego Forlán, again impressive playing just behind Suárez and Edinson Cavani, was flicked away by the hand of the goalkeeper Oscar Pérez. Slowly, Uruguay asserted control.

After the match, Tabárez defended his side's counter-attacking approach. The coach, a devotee of Che Guevara, has his apt saying "one must toughen oneself without ever losing tenderness" hanging in his house. "This is a virtue," he said. "It is not a crime to be strong in defence. We did not have three draws. Two out of the three matches were victories."

The decisive moment came when Cavani swung over a deep cross and Suárez was unmarked at the far post to plant a header past Pérez. The goal atoned for a miss when the prolific Ajax striker spurned a decent chance when clean through following a slip by Héctor Moreno.

Uruguay played tight, controlled football with Egido Arévalo acting as a robust midfield shield and the captain Diego Lugano commanding at the back. They nearly had a second when Forlán whipped in a free-kick and Lugano's header was saved by Pérez. Uruguay's muscular style, which clinically destroyed the dreams of host nation, was too much for a pretty but ineffectual Mexico. As news filtered through that 10-man France had pulled one back against South Africa, the match fizzled out.Forlán said Uruguay were getting "more and more confident" as the tournament went on, and it showed. "We have very good players in our team. We know what we are capable of," he said.

Aguirre said Mexico had looked "a little afraid and scared". Bright, as ever, going forward they did not show the cutting edge that had sent France spinning into crisis. It was something of a surprise that the new Manchester United signing Javier Hernández, a scorer against France, did not start, with Cuauhtémoc Blanco preferred. Blanco, 37, looked heavy legged and the former West Ham United striker Guillermo Franco, leading the line, was largely ineffectual.

The shame of West Germany's win over Austria at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, which ensured both advanced, has cast a long shadow. After that match Fifa resolved to play all final group games at the same time and here it created a vibrant, nervy atmosphere with the crowd split largely between Mexicans and South Africans. It was the small band of Uruguayans left cheering loudest at the end, however.Tabárez said his first World Cup experience, at Italia 90, had been an unhappy one but vowed to this time enjoy the experience. "Uruguay are difficult opponents for anybody," he said. "We also know we may not be favourites, but we feel at ease. We're a tightly bonded group and we have lots of dreams in our minds. In the old town of Montevideo there is a huge celebration going on. There is emotion, very strong emotion." His side have progressed without conceding a goal.

Mexico faded in the second half as they failed to break down a Uruguay back four marshalled by Lugano. As the floodlights came on and the temperature dropped, their chances of qualification hung in the balance but there was too little urgency.

Their best chance came when Pablo Barrera crossed from the right and an unmarked Francisco Rodríguez failed to get enough on his diving header. Hernández also came close when he almost bundled the ball home from a Dos Santos cross. As it was, there was to be no Bafana Bafana miracle in Bloemfontein, and both teams progressed. But it was Uruguay, who had to squeeze past Costa Rica in a play-off to qualify, who impressed. Tabárez, admitting he was "surprised" at France's implosion, said of his squad: "This is an excellent group. There is cohesion, there is friendship among the players."