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Nicolas Lodeiro‘s influence on the Uruguay national team may be waning a bit — he didn’t play in either of the most recent World Cup qualifiers — but he’ll be called up again in October. Lodeiro was named to the 26-man roster for matches against Venezuela (Oct. 5) and Bolivia (Oct. 10).
26 jugadores reservados por Uruguay para las últimas 2 jornadas de Eliminatorias. Aparecen Rodrigo Bentancur y Maximiliano Gómez. pic.twitter.com/7zf1R79xtk
— Alejandro Etcheverry (@UruAlejandro) September 15, 2017
Neither match should conflict with the Seattle Sounders’ schedule, who have games on Oct. 1 (at the Philadelphia Union) and Oct. 15 (vs. FC Dallas).
Those will be the final two matches of CONMEBOL’s qualifying process and Uruguay is currently second in the table. Although just three points separate Uruguay from the playoff spot and four points are between them and being eliminated, their spot is reasonably safe. SportsClubStats give them a 99.7 percent chance of qualifying. Bolivia and Venezuela are the two worst teams in qualifying and have already been eliminated. Even if Uruguay lose on the road against Venezuela, they’d still be guaranteed a World Cup spot by beating Bolivia at home.