In the early hours of Saturday morning, GMT, Rodrigo Bentancur’s Uruguay side were in action at home to Colombia, for match day eleven of CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers.
It was Bentancur’s first game for Uruguay since their third place play-off against Canada at the Copa America in the summer, having been handed a four game ban for his actions after their semi-final exit in the same tournament, ironically against Colombia. That ban was completely unrelated to his pending seven game domestic ban.
For this game, manager Marcelo Bielsa immediately put Bentancur back into the starting XI, starting him in a double pivot next to Federico Valverde of Real Madrid. Davinson Sanchez was in the starting XI for Colombia, making it the second time in just over a week that Bentancur had faced off against his former Spurs team mate, after the 3-2 defeat to Galatasaray in the Europa League.
Incredible scenes for Rodrigo Bentancur's Uruguay side
The first half would prove to be a tough one, with Uruguay going into the break one goal down, and Bentancur in the book for a foul 26 minutes into the game. However, two goals in three second half minutes turned the game around, with the first being an own goal from Sanchez.
Heartbreak would seemingly ensue late on, as Colombia equalised six minutes into stoppage time, and it looked like Uruguay were going to have to settle for a point. However, five minutes later, in the 101st minute of the game, Manchester United midfield Manuel Ugarte scored to give Bentancur's side an incredibly dramatic late win.
This result leaves Uruguay in second place in qualifying, with 19 points from their 11 games so far - just three points behind leaders Argentina.
As for Bentancur himself, whilst with a lot of Spurs international players, some rest is optimal – the midfielder getting 90+ minutes in the legs here is ideal, with the aforementioned pending ban. This will go a way to keeping his match sharpness up ahead of his return from the ban.
The midfielder recorded; 67 touches, 43/43 passes completed, 4/5 accurate long balls, 2/3 successful dribble attempts, 7/11 ground duels won, four tackles, one clearance, and a foul drawn. A great performance, and a very disciplined one on a yellow card for over an hour of the game.
Next up for Uruguay is an exciting looking showdown away to Brazil for match day twelve of CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying, with the game set to take place in the early hours of Wednesday morning GMT – a 00:45 kick off.