On Saturday, Uruguay suffered a painful defeat against Estonia but La Celeste made up for the loss with a strong display against the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday. Both Diego Forlán and Diego Godín played the entire match for the South Americans and helped their team to a 3-2 victory in Dublin.
After playing 90 minutes against Ecuador the plan was to give Luis Perea a rest during Colombia’s encounter with Chile, but an injury to right back Zuñiga forced the national team coach to bring on our ‘Turbo’ in the 18th minute. Perea played until the final whistle but couldn’t prevent the Cafeteros from losing 2-0.
David de Gea and Álvaro Domínguez both featured 90 minutes for Spain U21 in a friendly with Belarus, which ended 1-1. Coach Luis Milla used the match to see all of his players in action, but didn’t use midfielder Rubén Pérez. It’s expected that all three rojiblancos will be present this summer at the U21 European Championships in Denmark, while Joel and Fran Mérida are also still in contention for a spot in la Rojita’s selection.
Spain U17, with Saúl Ñíguez on the bench, beat Northern Ireland convincingly (5-1). A draw in the final group fixture against England tomorrow will be enough for the young Spaniards to qualify for the U17 European Championships to be held in Serbia in May.