Colombia's Torres pulls out of key qualifier in Uruguay

Posted Tuesday, September 10, 2013 by YAHOO Sport

BOGOTA, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Injured midfielder Macnelly Torres pulled out of Colombia's squad in Montevideo on Monday as they prepared for a World Cup qualifier against Uruguay in which they could book their ticket to the finals.

Torres suffered a knock in the 1-0 home win over Ecuador on Friday and the Colombia medical team decided to release him, the Colombian Football Federation said in a statement.

Also absent for Colombia, who can qualify along with joint South American group leaders Argentina if they win at the Centenario, is suspended left back Pablo Armero.

Uruguay, who are fifth in the standings, are missing suspended central defenders Diego Lugano and Diego Godin and injured left back Martin Caceres and forward Diego Forlan.

Colombia are looking to end a 16-year wait by reaching the 2014 finals in Brazil.

The top four teams in the nine-nation group will go through at the end of the qualifying campaign next month with the fifth-placed side reaching a two-legged playoff against the winners of an Asian decider between Uzbekistan and Jordan for one more berth.