Diego Maradona's Argentina booked their place at next summer's
World Cup finals as substitute Mario Bolatti hit a late winner
to end Uruguay's hopes of snatching automatic qualification for
South Africa.
Huracan midfielder Bolatti, winning just his third cap, fired
home with six minutes remaining after the home defence failed
to deal with Juan Sebastian Veron's drilled effort from a free-kick.
Maradona has come in for fierce criticism for his disjointed
handling of Argentina's qualification campaign, which as seen
him field over 70 players, but victory in Montevideo should silence
his critics - until next summer at least.
Uruguay, meanwhile, now need to prevail in a play-off against
Honduras or Costa Rica if they are to join Argentina in the finals. |
