MONTEVIDEO: Veteran Oscar Washington Tabarez has been sacked as national coach of Uruguay as the Celeste risk missing out on the World Cup finals.

On Tuesday Uruguay crashed 3-0 to Bolivia, their fourth successive defeat in in the South American qualifying ‘liguilla’.

Defeat dropped the two-times former World Cup winners to seventh place with four days to play.

Tabárez, a 74-year-old former primary school teacher, managed Uruguay from from 1988 to 1990, returning to the job for a second time in 2006.

He led the team to fourth place in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and to victory in the 2011 Copa América. With Tabárez Uruguay qualified for three World Cups, reaching the round of 16 two times, and the semi-finals once.

In 2016, two and a half weeks after completing 10 years as the manager of Uruguay, Tabárez surpassed Francisco Maturana for the head coach with most World Cup qualifying games in South America with 47.

He has also coached teams in Colombia, Argentina, Italy and Spain.

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