Luis Diaz scored twice as Colombia stunned Brazil 2-1 in a World Cup qualifier, days after his father was released by kidnappers.
The Liverpool striker netted twice in four minutes late in the second half, watched by his father Luiz Manuel Diaz who was held for 12 days before his release last week.
Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli had put Brazil in front after just four minutes.
Colombia’s first win over Brazil for eight years lifts them into third in the South American qualifying table with Brazil, who suffered a second successive defeat in the competition, down to fifth.
On a night of surprises, goals from Ronald Araujo and Darwin Nunez saw Uruguay beat Argentina 2-0.
Lionel Messi struggled to impose himself, hitting the crossbar in the second half as Argentina’s 100% record since lifting the World Cup was ended.
Uruguay’s win lifts them to second in the table, two points behind Argentina.
Venezuela are in fourth after a goalless draw with Ecuador, Chile and Paraguay also drawing a blank while Bolivia won the battle of the bottom two with a 2-0 win over Peru.
Jamaica’s wait to qualify for a FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup has been prolonged, as the young Reggae Girlz suffered a second-consecutive 0-4 defeat, this time at the hands of United States, at the Concacaf Under-20 Championships in Dominican Republic on Sunday.
A hat-trick from Madeline Dahlien (10th, 47th and 79th) and one from Tessa Dellarose (49th) saw the reigning seven-time champions to victory which secured them a semi-final berth along with Canada, who earlier registered a 5-0 win over Panama.
Both United States and Canada, are on six points each and will decide Group A winners in a top-of-the-table clash on Tuesday, while the Jamaicans and Panamanians are to meet in a contest of academic interest on the same day.
While it was a much-improved showing from the young Reggae Girlz in part, when compared to their 0-4 opening loss to Canada, they simply lacked the pedigree of their United States counterparts.
The Hugh Bradford-coached Girlz showed more heart defensively and did manage to show some semblance of individual flair when in possession, but again offered very little on the attacking front.
It took only 10 minutes for US to break the deadlock when Dahlien breached the backline and fired past Liya Brooks.
They continued to apply consistent pressure and found a few more openings but faulty shooting proved their undoing as they failed to hit the target.
That coupled with the fact that the young Reggae Girlz were more organized at the back, resulted in the score remaining 1-0 at the break.
However, the Girlz first half accomplishments quickly went out like a candle in the wind, as the US attackers went straight to work on the resumption. A weighted cross from Onyeka Gamero was expertly met by Dahlien beating Brooks to her left, two minutes in.
And before the Girlz could regroup, they found themselves further behind when Dellarose’s delightful left-footed strike from about 20-yards out, gave Brooks no chance at a save.
Brooks was better positioned to deny substitute Jill Flammia’s effort from just outside the 18-yard box in the 54th minute, as she got down well to her right to parry onto the upright.
But Dahlien eventually secured her third and a fourth for the US with another easy finish beyond Brooks.
US, Canada, Costa Rica and Mexico are set to contest the semi-finals.
The two finalists and third-place team will qualify for next year’s Under-20 World Cup.
Despite facing an uphill task, Jamaica’s Head coach Hugh Bradford is optimistic that his young Reggae Girlz will produce an improved performance against reigning seven-time champions United States in their second Group A contest at the Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship in Dominican Republic on Sunday.
The encounter to take place at the Felix Sanchez Stadium in Santo Domingo, is scheduled for 5:00 pm Jamaica time, after the Canada versus Panama curtain-raiser at 2:00 pm.
After going down 0-4 to Canada in Friday’s opener, the young Reggae Girlz are now caught in a must-win situation in order to keep hopes of securing an historic FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup berth alive and Bradford is backing his charges to put their best foot forward on this occasion.
United States, who hammered Panama 6-0 in their opening contest, currently head the standings on three points, same as Canada, but with a better goal difference.
“Yes, it is a difficult task but we are going to try and play our game and not worry about what the opponents will do. I know we have a lot of potential in our team and so I expect the players to go out and give off their best,” Bradford said.
Reflecting on the team’s performance against Canada, the US-based coach pointed out that the players failed to execute as instructed and, as such, were outclassed in all departments and beaten by goals from Anabelle Chukwu (39th and 45th), Olivia Smith (56th) and substitute Renee Watson (90+4).
“I thought we could have been better, but we weren’t entirely bad. We used a lot of energy on the defensive side, didn’t press the ball enough and so we were unable to get anything out of the game,” Bradford reasoned.
“But we have to just leave that game behind us and focus on the next game. We know our performance needed to be better as a team and like I said, I expect the ladies to show some improvements here. Everybody is fine, we had our team meeting and discussed what changes needs to take place as we look ahead,” he added.
Should the Girlz pull off an unlikely upset, it would put them in a good position to secure on of two spots from the group to the knockout stage, as they are set to close against Panama on May 30, while the United States and Canada will have each other to contend with.
Meanwhile, Costa Rica and Mexico, have all but secured the two positions from Group B, with two wins each.
The two finalists and third-place team will represent the confederation at next year’s Under-20 World Cup.
Following Wednesday night's washout of the Group A matches in the final round of the Concacaf Women U20 Championships qualifiers, Jamaica will now play their opening match against Canada on May 26.
They will then play the USA on May 28 with their final group match against Panama set for May 30.
Adverse weather conditions resulted in water-logged fields in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday night causing the games to be postponed.
The other Group A fixture between the United States and Panama was also called off.
The Jamaica Football Federation has named a 20-player squad that will represent the country at the 2023 Concacaf Women’s U20 championship in the Dominican Republic from May 22 to June 3. The players are scheduled to depart for the championship on Saturday, May 20.
Jamaica will play in a tough Group A that also comprises the United States, Canada and Panama. Group B is made up of Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Dominican Republic.
After round-robin play, the two best teams from each group will advance to a knockout stage. All knockout stage matches with the two finalists and the third-place match winner qualifying for next year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
The matches will be played across two venues - the Estadio Felix Sanchez in Santo Domingo and the Estadio Panamericano in San Cristobal.
The United States is the current champion (seventh title overall) of the CWU20 after defeating Mexico 2-0 in the 2022 Final.
The Jamaica squad is as follows: Andrene Smith, Shaneil Buckley, Una Moy Lue, Davia Richards, Liha Williams, Taijah Fraser, Tiny Seaton, Kaitlyn Ennis, Natoya Atkinson, Destiny Powell, Akeila Johnson, Janiel Mignott, Amelia Zanten, Liya Brooks, Avery Johnson, Maya Raghunandanan, Anaiyah Robinson, Njeri Butts, NjerI Lewis, Katie Oakley.
FIFA has agreed to cancel the World Cup qualifier between Brazil and Argentina.
The fixture in September was stopped shortly after kick-off when Brazilian health officials entered the field claiming four Argentina players had broken COVID-19 protocols.
FIFA was pushing for the clash to be rescheduled for next month, despite the fact the game was essentially meaningless with both teams having already qualified for the World Cup in Qatar later this year.
The confederations of Brazil and Argentina both opposed FIFA's demand, with the case taken to the Court for Arbitration of Sport (CAS) where all three parties agreed to the deal.
Brazil's Tite and Argentina's Lionel Scaloni argued the risk of injuries and suspensions were too high for the game to be played, which would have occurred just two months before the World Cup is scheduled to begin.
With the agreement, both South American teams are free to schedule friendlies against opponents of their choosing for their World Cup preparations – where they will be looking to end Europe's dominance on the world stage.
Brazil have not won the tournament since 2002 and were humiliated by Germany in the semi-finals when hosting the tournament in 2014, where Argentina were subsequently beaten in the final.
Argentina are alongside Mexico, Poland and Saudi Arabia in Group C, while Brazil are in Group G with Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon.
Chile's appeal to have Ecuador disqualified from the World Cup in Qatar has been rejected by FIFA.
The appeal was made on the basis of Ecuador selecting an ineligible player during their qualifying campaign.
Football's world governing body opened disciplinary proceedings last month following allegations that right-back Byron Castillo is Colombian and not eligible to represent Ecuador.
Castillo made eight appearances for Ecuador in their South American qualifying campaign.
Chile, who failed to qualify for the World Cup, lodged a complaint, but FIFA confirmed on Friday that Ecuador will keep their place at the World Cup, which starts in November.
A statement on FIFA's website read: "The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has rendered its decision in relation to the potential ineligibility of the player Byron David Castillo Segura with regard to his participation in eight qualifying matches of the national team of the Ecuadorian Football Association (FEF) in the preliminary competition of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
"After analysing the submissions of all parties concerned and considering all elements brought before it, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided to close the proceedings initiated against the FEF.
"The Disciplinary Committee's findings were notified today to the parties concerned. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, the parties have 10 days in which to request a motivated decision, which, if requested, would subsequently be published on legal.fifa.com. The present decision remains subject to an appeal before the FIFA Appeal Committee."
La Roja, who finished seventh to miss out on a play-off spot, would have taken Ecuador's place had FIFA disqualified them.
Ecuador will face hosts Qatar, Netherlands and Senegal in Group A.
Brazil head coach Tite praised the performance of his much-changed Brazil side after a comfortable 4-0 win in World Cup qualifying in Bolivia on Tuesday.
Goals from Lucas Paqueta, Richarlison (two) and Bruno Guimaraes sealed the routine victory in La Paz, a notoriously difficult place to play football given its high altitude, which Tite referenced before the game.
The Selecao had already qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and so Tite was happy to ring the changes after also winning 4-0 against Chile last week, with Philippe Coutinho and Richarlison coming in for Vinicius Jr and the suspended Neymar.
There were also starts for Dani Alves, Eder Militao, Alex Telles, Fabinho and Guimaraes, who scored his first goal at international level.
"We need to see the game in its whole context," Tite said. "It was a linear situation in the first and second half. The changes helped to maintain our balance.
"In terms of tactics, we play in a 4-4-3 almost always, even in different situations. Sometimes we have a player who floats, like Coutinho today. The striker attacked space today. In the other game it was two central defenders with two arrows on their side."
The 60-year-old also referenced the difficulty of playing in La Paz, saying he even struggles with it just standing on the touchline.
"To come up against such adversity and be able to produce this score, with a lot of shots, maintaining our level and making changes to the team without losing our model [was impressive]," he said. "Our recovery of ball possession remained high, and we kept up very high levels of concentration.
"My head hurts, I go upstairs and I gasp. The athlete diminishes his physical capacity for performance. It was [a performance above expectations]. To put in that performance against Bolivia here in La Paz is very difficult.
"A team that has changed its starting lineups and maintains a pattern, this is significant. We always try to do the best job possible. The feeling I have is one of peace."
Brazil sit top of South American qualifying with a six-point lead after securing 14 wins and three draws from their 17 games, with only the re-arranged clash against Argentina still to play.
Peru are one game away from back-to-back World Cup finals appearances following Tuesday's 2-0 win over Paraguay and head coach Ricardo Gareca lauded his side who seemed set to miss out six months ago.
La Blanquirroja clinched fifth spot in World Cup qualifying in CONMEBOL with the victory over Paraguay, finishing ahead of Colombia and Chile who were eliminated.
Peru's win means they will play the fifth-ranked team from the Asian Football Confederation, either Australia or UAE, who will meet in a one-off playoff in Doha in June. The inter-confederation playoff will also be played as a one-off in Doha on June 13 or 14.
Gareca's side seemed a long shot to claim fifth after back-to-back 1-0 losses to Bolivia and Argentina which left them second last in the standings in October but rallied by claiming 13 points from a possible 18 in their final six qualifiers.
“We didn't start the qualifiers well, but we rebounded well," Gareca told reporters. "It gave us the possibility to get to the playoff spot.
"I have to congratulate the boys and thank the people for the support. It was incredible. When I renewed my contract, this is what I wanted."
Gareca has been widely praised within Peru for his efforts, having taken over as national team boss in March 2015 and leading the side to its first World Cup in 36 years in 2018 along with the 2019 Copa America final.
The sentiment has been different for Colombia head coach Reinaldo Rueda, who achieved a rare feat of guiding two sides in qualifying who both failed to reach the World Cup. Rueda had led Chile early in qualifying before being dismissed, taking over Colombia in January.
"I think that not achieving the goal is a shame for Colombian football," Rueda told reporters after Colombia's 1-0 win in Venezuela which was not enough. "It is a very strong frustration. It was added, but the great result was not given."
"I think it is very clear that my contract was subject to qualifying for the World Cup, so it is an evaluation that the board will have to do, of the work we have done."
Chile's failure means they have missed the past two World Cups, meaning the international careers of several of their golden generation, including Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal, Charles Aranguiz, Claudio Bravo, Mauricio Isla, Gary Medel and Eduardo Vargas, may come to an end.
Chile head coach Martin Lasarte told reporters after their 2-0 home loss to Uruguay: "I think some players from the 'golden generation' still have something to give."
Despite making history in Argentina's 1-1 draw against Ecuador, manager Lionel Scaloni seemed disappointed to share the points away from home.
It looked like it was going to be a win and a clean sheet for the visiting side after Julian Alvarez put them up in the first half, before late drama.
VAR ruled that a 90th-minute header struck the arm of an Argentinian defender, and Enner Valencia stepped up from the penalty spot and put home the rebound after his initial strike was saved.
With the result, Argentina have now played 31 games since their last loss, dating back to the 2019 Copa America semi-final, which is the longest active unbeaten run in international football.
Argentina's 31-game unbeaten streak also matched the record feat achieved by the national team from 1991 to 1993.
However Scaloni, who received a yellow card from the sideline, was focused on the difficulty of the World Cup qualifying campaign as a whole.
"These two dates [against Venezuela and Ecuador] were very hard for us," he told reporters.
"Between suspensions, injuries and players who arrived very fair, we had to support each other and I appreciate that very much.
"They are very hard to play – sometimes people really don't realise how hard they are. I was just talking to the boys from the under-20s who came to watch the match, and they couldn't understand the degree of difficulty that the matches present.
"Today's game was played on a field that was not in good condition – it was almost impossible to play from below – even so, we had a good first half, but in the second they came to us."
It was a different story for Ecuador manager Gustavo Alfaro, who addressed the crowd and called it "one of the happiest moments of my life".
"I thank my family, everyone who was part of this process and this achievement, which is the most important in my career," he said.
"I am living one of the happiest moments of my life. Nobody believed in Ecuador, and today it stands up and says present to the world.
"The challenge that is coming to us [the World Cup] is for 17 million people."
Julian Alvarez's first-half strike was all that separated Argentina from home side Ecuador until a stoppage-time penalty secured a 1-1 draw.
With both sides already punching their tickets to the Qatar World Cup, this fixture was more about national pride, and it was evident neither team was going to take it easy as a number of the biggest stars were included in starting line-ups, including Lionel Messi.
Playing in front of a raucous home crowd, Ecuador defended with fiery passion, which was rewarded in the 93rd minute.
Enner Valencia tucked home a rebound after seeing a penalty awarded by VAR saved, cancelling out Alvarez's 24th-minute opener.
Ecuador almost had a dream start in front of their home fans, with Robert Arboleda's header from a fifth-minute set-piece tipped over the bar by Geronimo Rulli, who then denied Alan Franco.
Argentina had over 60 per cent of possession in the first half and, after their dominance was mitigated by sloppy mistakes early, the pressure paid off when Alvarez broke the deadlock.
Alvarez's goal came after a cross in from the left wing found him at the penalty spot, and though his first-time shot was blocked by a lunging defender, he tucked away the rebound neatly, hard and low across the goalkeeper into the bottom left corner.
Angel Mena fired wide from the edge of the box at the end of a surging run and it looked as if Argentina, who went close with a Messi free-kick would leave victorious until an on-target header struck Lucas Martinez on the arm, with VAR awarding a penalty.
Valencia's initial attempt was saved by Rulli, but the rebound fell fortuitously at his feet for him to tap in the equaliser.
What does it mean?
Both teams have secured qualification to the World Cup, but Argentina managing to again avoid defeat means they are now 31 games unbeaten, a run that stretches back to the 2019 Copa America semi-fiinals.
Immovable Otamendi controls the show
Argentina centre-back Nicolas Otamendi was near-flawless marshalling his defensive unit and was at no fault for the goal.
Otamendi won four out of his five aerial duels – two more than any other team-mate – and won six of his eight total duels.
Speedy Gonzalez runs straight to the bench
Nicolas Gonzalez started on the left wing for Argentina, but was largely ineffective before being substituted in the 78th minute.
Gonzalez was credited with zero created chances, and only had a passing accuracy of 44 per cent in the final third.
What's next?
Argentina face reigning European champions Italy on June 1. Ecuador can start to think about preparations for their first World Cup finals appearance since 2014.
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