Suarez sends Uruguay, and Russia, to last 16

ROSTOV-ON-DON, RUSSIA » With a single goal, Luis Suarez settled the fate of four teams in the group stage of the World Cup.

The controversial striker, who was making his 100th appearance in his national team’s light blue, scored Wednesday to give Uruguay a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia and a spot in the round of 16.

The result, though, had a domino effect in Group A. It also put host Russia into the next round while eliminating both Saudi Arabia and Egypt at the same time.

Suarez, who was kicked out of the last World Cup for biting an opponent during a match, knocked in a corner kick from Carlos Sanchez in the 23rd minute for his 52nd goal for his country in that century of matches.

“We are more than proud because we’ve reached the knockout stage at three successive World Cups. It’s a beautiful moment and we want to enjoy it,” Suarez said. “We still haven’t hit our stride so we need to tweak some things.”

Besides scoring, Suarez led his team with a hard-working performance. He fell back to defend and raced forward alongside Edinson Cavani on the counterattack.

“I don’t want to hand out empty praise but Suarez is a crucial player for us. And he has that enormous capacity to score goals,” Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said. “He lives under enormous pressure, but he lives with it. He takes that pressure on.” SPAIN 1, IRAN 0 » Diego Costa scored on a deflection to lead Spain to a win over Iran. Costa broke the deadlock in the 54th minute after being set up by Andres Iniesta. The powerful striker turned in the area and took a shot but the ball deflected off Ramin Rezeian before bouncing back onto Costa’s knee and into the net.

Costa, who also scored two goals in the opening match, has three goals at this year’s World Cup, trailing Cristiano Ronaldo by one. He also has nine goals in his last nine starts for Spain.

Brazil: Neymar is ready

SOCHI, RUSSIA » Brazil is making sure everyone knows Neymar is perfectly fit at the World Cup

A day after he limped out of training and raised further doubts about his physical condition in Russia, the Brazilian soccer federation was quick to tell the world the team’s biggest star was just fine.

Brazil had a closed practice session Wednesday, two days before its game against Costa Rica in St. Petersburg.