Australia enjoyed a trouble-free arrival in Uruguay for Saturday's World Cup qualifying play-off first leg, free of the spitting and insults which marred their visit four years ago.

The Australians were whisked out of Montevideo airport via an entrance used by the Uruguayan air force.

"We had a good and normal arrival," said Australia's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink on Friday. "Everyone has done their job and they (the Uruguayan police) wanted to prevent things."

Police arranged for a decoy bus, an empty vehicle with the curtains closed identical to the bus used by Australia, to travel to the team hotel in central Montevideo minutes before the real one.

Neither bus suffered any type of aggression, witnesses said.

Uruguay, who finished fifth in the South American qualifying group, play the second leg in Sydney on Wednesday against Oceania region winners Australia.

The two teams met in the same play-off fixture four years ago when Uruguay won 3-1 on aggregate thanks to a 3-0 second-leg win in Montevideo. On that occasion, the angry Australians claimed they were spat at and insulted at Montevideo airport.

They also said noisy fans outside their hotel stopped them sleeping.

Hiddink said he was frustrated that five of his players would be starting the game on a yellow card and would run the risk of missing the second leg if they are booked again.

Lucas Neill, Zeljko Kalac, Marco Bresciano, Vince Grella and Jon McKain were booked in a 2-1 win in the Solomon Islands in the second leg of their Oceania playoff. Australia went through 9-1 on aggregate.

"I got upset that we got a few yellow cards in a game that was not important," said Hiddink. "Sometimes you need to think ahead. I will have that in my head (when I pick the team) and it may be an influence."

The match is scheduled Sunday morning (Beijing Time)