On the 11th of South American Qualifiers, Uruguay defeated Colombia by 3 to 2 in local conditions. It was by far one of the best matches that have been played so far in the qualifiers of the Conmebol to the 2026 World Cup to be held in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
Analyzing the match, Colombia opened the scoring in the first half thanks to a free kick from Juanfer Quintero. Although it is worth adding that with a lot of responsibility from goalkeeper Sergio Rochet.
In the second half Uruguay would make it 2 to 1. First thanks to a goal from Davinson Sanchez against and then through a great goal Rodrigo Aguirre. While the best would come with the discount. At 96 minutes Carlos Andrés Gómez achieved the tie. But neither more nor less than at 101 Manuel Ugarte sealed the 3 to 2.
Once the victory was achieved, Bielsa shared these feelings: “Triumphs like today’s are healing. In the sense that they bring all the parties that are around a feeling as strong as that of Uruguay very close.. It was a very exciting match, the determination that the players put into ensuring that the victory was preserved was very evident.”
He also added the following: “It seemed impossible after a draw with so little left to go off balance again. an immense joy and as I said before it was a much-needed triumph. For us it was essential to win again and beyond the way it happened it was very exciting. It was a much-needed victory. I didn’t imagine the game like that because I always imagine them handling the ball and recovering it quickly.”.
While he closed with these words: “It was very difficult for us to prevent Colombia from having long possessions. They are a team that has a very oiled and accomplished way of playing, that defends, presses, handles the ball and has imbalance. All these things make him a very difficult opponent to beat. We prepared the game so that their centre-backs didn’t have the ball and they were the ones who had it the most.”
The qualifying table
Date 11 came to an end. Currently, the Argentine National Team continues to be the leader of the qualifying rounds with 22 points through seven wins, one draw and three losses.. Uruguay and Colombia are their escorts with 19. While Brazil is further behind with 17. There are only 7 rounds left to play.