Uruguay exit World Cup with 'bad taste in our mouth' - coach

AL WAKRAH, Qatar : Uruguay's bitterly disappointed manager and players blamed penalty decisions against them for their exit from the World Cup on Friday after they beat Ghana 2-0 but were pipped to a last 16 spot by South Korea due to an inferior number of goals scored.

Uruguay finished Group H on four points, the same as South Korea, and would have qualified on the next deciding criteria of goal difference had they conceded one goal less or scored one goal more during their three games in Qatar.

Coach Diego Alonso pointed to a controversial late penalty awarded to Portugal in their second group game, a 2-0 loss. At the end of the win over Ghana, his players confronted the referee complaining about several unsuccessful penalty appeals.

"FIFA told us that the Portugal penalty was not a penalty, there you have the proof of what happened," said a stoney-faced Alonso. "The team did everything they could to get into the second round, we're going home with a bad taste in our mouth."

Aggrieved striker Luis Suarez was blunter, saying football's governing body had an agenda against his nation.

"FIFA is always against Uruguay," said Suarez, complaining that Darwin Nunez and Edinson Cavani should both have been given penalties for fouls by Ghana.

"After the match, I wanted to go and hug my family and people from FIFA come and tell me 'no', but you see a Frenchman with his children on the substitutes' bench," he added.

SUAREZ'S TEARS

Suarez was substituted when his team was 2-0 up and had appeared to be going through to the knockout stage, before South Korea scored their late winner to beat Portugal 2-1.

The veteran, in his fourth and probably final World Cup, wept when the final whistle went at the Al Janoub Stadium. "We gave our best,