Mario Bolatti's goal helps Diego's Argentina to qualify for 2010 World Cup football
Mario Bolatti's goal helps Diego's Argentina to qualify for 2010 World Cup footballu00a0
Argentina beat old rivals and neighbours Uruguay 1-0 in their World Cup qualifying showdown at the historic Estadio Centenario in Uruguayan capital Montevideo to seal a place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Coach Diego Maradona's decision to bring on Mario Bolatti proved to be a masterstroke. The youngster scored within moments of coming on to seal Argentina's berth at the World Cup. From a free-kick seven minutes to time, Juan Veron shot towards the goal and when it was deflected into the path of Bolatti, the 24-year-old kept his cool to take a touch to roll the ball into the corner.
Argentina needed the minimum of a draw to qualify while Uruguay, a point behind, needed to win to snatch that qualifying slot. It was all or nothing clash at Montevideo, with Argentina starting the game on 25 points at fourth place in the South American qualifiers while Uruguay started on 24 points.
Argentina finished with a tally of 28 points to join Brazil, Paraguay and Chile as the four South American qualifiers.
The match began with Argentina manager Maradona under pressure having lost four games and sneaking up into fourth place in the qualifying tables thanks only to Martin Palermo's last-minute winner against Peru last weekend.
