Santi Bueno experienced a moment he would never forget this week after leading Uruguay out as captain in their friendly against Uzbekistan.
The defender has been a regular in his national team squad for the last few years, and in a much-changed line-up, Bueno was one of the most experienced players in the team, so was entrusted with the armband by manager Marcelo Bielsa.
Bueno was just one of a record number of Wolves players on international duty this week, and wolves.co.uk has rounded up all of the action involving Old Gold players from the last two days.
Santi Bueno | Uzbekistan 1-2 Uruguay
It was a proud moment for Bueno on Monday afternoon as the Wolves defender led out Uruguay for the first time in his career. Wearing the captain’s armband on his eighth senior appearance for his country, Bueno’s side took a two goal lead against Uzbekistan in their friendly clash in Malaysia. After a goalless first half, Facundo Torres and Juan Manuel Sanabria’s finishes looked to have made it a perfect afternoon for Uruguay, but Bueno was unable to mark his first game as captain with a clean sheet after Uzbekistan found the net with less than 10 minutes remaining.
Bueno, capitán 👨🏼✈️ pic.twitter.com/tIusxytDzo
— Selección Uruguaya (@Uruguay) October 13, 2025
Emmanuel Agbadou | Ivory Coast 3-0 Kenya
It was a second 90-minute display from Emmanual Agbadou during the October international period and another clean sheet as the centre-back produced another dominant performance to help Ivory Coast to a comfortable 3-0 win over Kenya in World Cup qualification. In the final game of Group F, Ivory Coast knew three points would be enough to top the standings ahead of Gabon and it didn’t take long to open the scoring through former Barcelona man Franck Kessie. Two more goals followed before full-time, with the victory securing Agbadou and Ivory Coast’s place at next summer’s World Cup in North America.
The Elephants do what Elephants do. 🐘
— CAF_Online (@CAF_Online) October 14, 2025
Côte d'Ivoire are our 8th representatives at the 2026 #FIFAWorldCup. 🇨🇮✅ pic.twitter.com/71IbBQu85T
Tolu Arokodare | Nigeria 4-0 Benin
Another player aiming to book a place at the 2026 World Cup was Tolu Arokodare, but it was going to be a difficult task for Nigeria to top Group C having made a poor start to their qualification campaign. Facing leaders Benin going into the final game last night, Arokodare started on the bench, but he came on with 10 minutes to go to see out a 4-0 drubbing, which was enough to see the side move above Benin into second in the group, but just fall short on automatic qualification after South Africa’s win against Rwanda saw them claim top spot. However, Nigeria finished as one of the four best runners-up and will now face a World Cup play-off.
Jorgen Strand Larsen & David Moller Wolfe | Norway 1-1 New Zealand
It was a rare national team start for Jorgen Strand Larsen on Tuesday evening as he joined Wolves teammate David Moller Wolfe in Norway’s line-up for their friendly fixture against New Zealand in Oslo. After falling behind in the first half, Norway fought back after the break and got an equaliser through Antonio Nusa on 62 minutes. Moments after the equalising goal, Strand Larsen made way, while Wolfe remained on the pitch for the entire match, and produced an impressive display at left-back to help see out a draw for his side. Norway will be back in World Cup qualification in November as they look odds on to claim a place in next summer’s competition.
Elsewhere
Jackson Tchatchoua played the entire match as Cameroon were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw at home to Angola in CAF qualifying on Monday evening. The result mattered not, however, as Cape Verde’s victory over Eswatini ensured the Verdeans finished top of Group D and meant Tchatchoua’s side will have to try to reach next summer’s World Cup via the play-offs as one of the four best-placed runners-up.
Marshall Munetsi & Tawanda Chirewa both started once again for Zimbabwe in their final CAF qualifier against Lesotho, with Munetsi playing the entire 90 minutes and Chirewa the first 80, but the pair were unable to inspire their country to victory as Lesotho netted in the third minute of added time to secure a 1-0 win. The result left Zimbabwe bottom of their qualification group.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde played the opening 85 minutes as he suffered his first defeat with Haiti in their CONCACAF qualification clash away in Honduras. The hosts claimed a 3-0 win with all goals coming in the first half to put them three points clear of Haiti in Group C. The loss also drops Bellegarde’s side to third in the group behind Costa Rica with two matches still to play in November.
Andre & Joao Gomes were both unused substitutes for Brazil as their country fell to a 3-2 loss to Japan in a friendly. After being unused last week, Hee Chan Hwang and Yerson Mosquera both remained on the bench once again for South Korea and Colombia respectively in their friendlies against Paraguay and Canada.
Jose Sa didn’t see any playing time in Portugal’s 2-2 World Cup qualifying draw with Hungary, which meant they will have to wait until November to secure their place in North America, and Fer Lopez was unused in Spain’s 2-1 U21 qualifying victory over Finland.
