In the concurrent fixture in Nezahualcóyotl, Uruguay and Scotland met to decide third place in the group, which would be enough to qualify for the second round. Ferguson had already shown himself to be a man of direct action when he left Liverpool captain Alan Hansen out of the squad prior to the tournament, but he dropped an even greater bombshell when he left Souness out of the team to face Uruguay. On paper and reputation Souness was the perfect man to mix it with the Uruguayan midfielders, but he was out of form, 33 years old and struggling badly in the heat. Having lost over a stone going into the tournament through illness the power wasn’t there and he accepted what was coming. Souness had never been dropped in his career; Ferguson didn’t even put him on the bench.