Internationals - Bentancur qualifies for Qatar, huge night for Davies, Rodon, Kulusevski

Rodrigo Bentancur helped Uruguay take the final automatic place in South American World Cup qualification with a tense 1-0 victory over rivals Peru in the early hours of Friday morning.

The teams met in the 17^th of 18 qualifiers in a shoot-out for a place in the CONMEBOL confederation’s top four for the finals in Qatar - Uruguay went into the game on 22 points, Peru on 21, with Ecuador on 25 and Brazil (42 points) and Argentina (35) both unbeaten and clear in first and second.

Earning his 48^th cap, Rodrigo was involved in the move that led to the winning goal on 42 minutes in Montevideo, breaking into the box before laying the ball off to Darwin Nunez, whose cross was turned onto the crossbar by Jose Maria Gimenez. Giorgian de Aarrascaeta drilled home the rebound.

Uruguay are now four points clear in fourth ahead of their final qualifier against Chile on Wednesday.

Davinson Sanchez was an unused substitute as Colombia kept their Qatar hopes alive with a 3-0 win against Bolivia. They face Venezuela in their final match on 20 points with Peru (playing Paraguay) on 21 and Chile (playing Uruguay) on 19 - the team that finishes fifth in qualifying will go to a play-off with the Asian confederation.

Back in Europe, Ben Davies, Joe Rodon and Dejan Kulusevski were all celebrating big wins in World Cup play-offs on Thursday evening.Ben (70 caps) and Joe (23 caps) dug deep defensively as Wales beat Austria 2-1 in their Path A semi-final in Cardiff.

Former Spur Gareth Bale struck two superb goals to put Wales in charge, but Marcel Sabitzer’s strike deflected unluckily off Ben into the top corner to make it 2-1 in the 64th minute. Ben and Joe helped Wales stand firm and Wales are now one step from taking their place in the World Cup finals for the first time since 1958. They will play either Scotland or Ukraine in the play-off final with that second semi-final scheduled for June.

Dejan played the full 120 minutes as Sweden overcame Czech Republic in the Path B play-off semi-final in Stockholm. Both teams had chances - Dejan (21 caps) drilled wide in the first half, and Milan Havel missed the chance of the night for the Czechs in injury time, but Sweden won it in the second half of extra time through Robin Quaison. Sweden now face Poland away in the play-off final on Tuesday for a place in Qatar.

Staying in Europe, Pierluigi Gollini was in the Italy squad but didn’t feature as the Azzurri suffered a shock, late 1-0 home loss against North Macedonia in their Path C play-off semi-final in Palermo. It means the Euro 2020 champions will not be in Qatar.

Heung-Min Son will be in Qatar, however - South Korea’s place in the finals was secured a while ago. However, Sonny celebrated his 99th cap with his 31st international goal as South Korea beat Iran 2-0 to move to the top of Asian qualifying. Sonny’s 25-yarder proved too hot to handle for Amir Abedzadeh in the first half.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, Maksim Paskotsi earned his 11th cap for Estonia in a goalless draw against Cyprus in the UEFA Nations League and Kallum Cesay started on the bench as Sierra Leone lost 3-0 against Togo in the Antalya Cup friendly tournament in Turkey.

Wednesday’s action

It was all about the Elite qualifying stage of the UEFA Under-19 and Under-17 Championships for our young players in action on Wednesday.

Dane Scarlett got England off to the perfect start with the opening goal, a header into the top corner, in their first match against the Republic of Ireland in Group 3. Dane and team-mate Alfie Devine both played 66 minutes as England ran out 3-1 winners at Walsall.

Thimothee Lo-Tutala started as France toppled Sweden 5-0 in Group 2 while Matthew Craig played 82 minutes as Scotland beat Turkey 2-1 in Group 1.

In Under-17s action, Will Andiyapan played the full 90 as Wales were beaten 5-0 by Slovenia in Group 7, while Tom Bloxham was an unused substitute as the Republic of Ireland lost 4-1 against Portugal in Group 8.

Friday's fixtures

Hugo Lloris - France home friendly against Ivory Coast - kick-off 8.15pm
Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso - Argentina home 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Venezuela - kick-off 11.30pm
Pape Matar Sarr - Senegal away 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Egypt - kick-off 7.30pm
Bryan Gil - Spain Under-21s home European Under-21 Championship qualifier against Lithuania - kick-off 7pm