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The United States was wary of Uruguay before the teams met last night at BMO Field in the round of 16 of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association under-20 World Cup.

Those fears were justified, even though the United States advanced by winning the difficult Group D and Uruguay eked out of Group B as one of four third-place teams to go on.

The United States needed an 87th-minute own goal by Uruguay to tie, a 90th-minute effort by Uruguay that hit a goal post to remain tied and finally extra time to take a 2-1 victory and advance to a quarter-final against Austria, which defeated Gambia 2-1.

Michael Bradley scored the goal in the second minute of the second 15-minute half of extra time.

The emotions of a long game, which Uruguay came so close to winning, boiled over at the end, and the game finished with some nastiness on the field as the teams milled around, but it was kept under control.

"Collectively, both teams did a good job to getting things defused in a potentially hard situation," U.S. coach Thomas Rongen said. "Both coaching staffs did a good job of separating them."

Uruguay's coach, Gustavo Ferrin, did not appear at the postgame media conference.

The job was made more difficult for the United States when forward Josmer Altidore left the game in the 54th minute with a leg injury. On a tackle by Martin Caceres, he aggravated a calf injury that he picked up earlier in the tournament. He tried to continue after being treated on the sideline, but it bothered him again and he was helped from the field. Altidore said he will try to play in the quarter-final match on Saturday.

A thigh injury to Chris Seitz in the 2-1 victory over Brazil last Friday also meant that Brian Perk played in goal for the United States.

After this one, United States talked about grit and determination and sometimes in not so polite terms.

"It was a hard game," Rongen said. "This was one of the toughest third-place opponents that we could have played."

Rongen said it was difficult for the United States to establish any kind of rhythm. "We struggled, quite frankly, throughout the game," he said. "But good teams find ways to win. I think our willpower, the willingness to sacrifice, the willingness to go where it hurts, which we did, to go down and come back and win the game and hang on for dear life, showed the quality of the team. You talk about being courageous and today they showed it."

"We're spent," said midfielder Freddy Adu, whose skill in the final minutes helped the United States finish off the game.

It did not look good for the United States for a long time. Uruguay outshot the United States 8-5 and also had nine shots that went wide, while the United States had three.

Uruguay also had the lead on a 73rd-minute goal by Luis Suarez, who had been a threat all game.

Suarez put the pass into the goal area and Edinson Cavani's header was stopped, but bounced away from Perk. Suarez pounced on the opportunity to score.

Suarez was replaced with Tabare Viudez in the 83rd minute as Uruguay tried to hold on to the lead.

But the United States tied the score after a corner forced and taken by Adu. From the left side, Danny Szetela shot the ball across the goal and it went in on what was charged as an own goal to Mathias Cardaccio, who was sliding toward the ball with U.S. forward Andre Akpan.

In the 90th minute, Perk made one save and Juan Manuel Diaz's header hit the post and the game went to extra time.

Uruguay went into the match never having lost at this tournament in the round of 16 and had made the semi-finals three times and the final once. In four previous meetings at the under-20 level, Uruguay had never lost to the United States.