BARRANQUILLA (COLOMBIA) – Uruguay bulldozed Colombia 3-0 in the World Cup qualifier on Friday. The team’s Edinson Cavani scored an early goal while striker Luis Suarez converted a second-half penalty. It was his fourth in three games for Uruguay.
Cavani netted the goal in the fifth minute after Nahitan Nandez did the hard work in midfield by securing the ball and setting him up to fire home a low right-foot shot.
Nine minutes into the second period, Suarez added to the lead as he scored from the spot after Jeison Murillo brought down Rodrigo Bentancur.
Darwin Nunez completed the scoring after 73 minutes when his pot shot from 25 metres beat the diving David Ospina.
Colombia’s Yerry Mina was sent off following a yellow card in the final minute of the game.
The goal scored by Suarez was his 63rd international strike. It came after he netted goals twice from the penalty spot in Uruguay’s 4-2 rout by Ecuador and once in their 2-1 win over Chile in last month’s opening qualifier.
With the win, Uruguay has six points after three matches. Colombia, who defeated Venezuela and drew away to Chile in their first two games, have four.
Teams that are in the top four in the 10-member South American group qualify automatically for the finals to be held in Qatar in 2022. The team which is fifth goes into an inter-regional playoff.
Uruguay will now play Brazil on home turf on Tuesday.