Manuel Ugarte grabbed a dramatic last-gasp winner as Uruguay ended a five-match winless streak with a thrilling 3-2 win over Colombia in South American World Cup qualifying on Friday.
Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay looked set for a 2-1 win until Colombia levelled through Andres Gomez in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
But once the celebrations and the lengthy VAR check were over — Uruguay pumped the ball into the box and the ball fell to the Manchester United midfielder Ugarte and the substitute buried the chance for his first international goal.
The crowd at the historic Estadio Centenario went wild as Uruguay claimed the three points and some revenge for their bad-tempered loss to Colombia in the Copa America semi-finals in July.
The win moves them above Colombia, on goal difference, into second place behind leaders Argentina.
Colombia took the lead in the 31st minute with a clever free-kick from Juan Fernando Quintero. With the home defence expecting a cross from the left of the box, Quintero spotted that Venezuela keeper Sergio Rochet had left a gap at his near post and superbly fired his shot into the corner.
Uruguay drew level in the 57th minute in fortunate fashion when Marcelo Saracchi whipped in a cross from the left which deflected off Daniel Munoz and Davinson Sanchez’s attempted sliding clearance flew into his own net.
But there was no luck about the goal that put Uruguay ahead three minutes later. Maximiliano Araujo and Mathias Olivera combined well with a smart passing move before Rodrigo Aguirre skipped past a challenge and fired home.
It was an emotional moment for the 30-year-old Aguirre, who plays in Mexico with Club America and had represented his country at youth level but never broken into the senior team.
But with Uruguay having failed to score in their last four World Cup qualifiers, coach Marcelo Bielsa handed him a start and got his reward.
He looked set to be the hero of the night until, after a goalmouth scramble, with Sanchez heading the ball into the box, Gomez pounced to grab what appeared to be a stoppage-time leveller.
But then came Ugarte’s winner and a much-needed victory for Bielsa’s team who had not won since beating Canada on penalties in the third place play-off of the Copa America in July.
Peru were hosting Chile later on Friday.
