Colombia Win In Santiago; Uruguay Draw Ecuador

Perhaps there isn’t an elite group of five teams on top of CONMEBOL after all? Venezuela made an excellent case for their potential place in the World Cup on Tuesday, making the most of their chances in Asuncion. The hosts were beaten up by Jose Solomon Rondon, and they’re all but out of the running to make the finals after Venezuela’s 2-0 road win.

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Just before that goal, there was a controversial yellow card shown to Ecuador striker ‘Chucho’ Cristian Benitez for diving in the box, when it looked like he might have won a penalty. The replays were inconclusive, but even if Benitez was contacted, he went down very easily.

We’ll have coverage of every match in our CONMEBOL 2014 World Cup qualifying StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

Chile still pushed forward with 10 men and surprisingly went ahead on a brilliant 41st minute strike by Matias Fernandez. He fired his team into the lead with a great goal from 25 yards out, taken after the ball deflected out towards him from the Colombia penalty area.

At that point, Jose Peckerman made a couple of defensive substitutions and Colombia saw the game out without too much incident, grabbing a massive away win that significantly increases their chances of qualifying for the World Cup.

Chile Lineup (3-4-3): Bravo; González, Vidal, Jara; Isla, Medel, Díaz, Mena; Fernández, Suazo, Sanchez

Colombia Lineup (4-4-2): Ospina; Zúñiga, Perea, Yepes, Armero; Valencia, Aguilar, Torres, James; Teo, Falcao

It’s too early in qualifying to call any game a must-win, but this is as close as a game can get to being a must-win without actually being one. If Paraguay can’t defeat Venezuela at home, they can’t be expected to pick up too many points during the rest of the tournament.

Venezuela are going to need to pick up some road points to break into the top five, and this is as good as an opportunity as any. A draw would probably suit them just fine, though. Colombia and Ecuador are both playing away this round and will struggle to gain any ground on Venezuela.

Update: Colombia 3-1 Chile, Final Score

Chile lost two of their first three matches in CONMEBOL qualifying in embarrassing fashion, but they’ve since righted the ship and look likely to make it to the World Cup without going to a playoff. They did not play in the last round, so they should be rested compared to their competitors.

Coincidentally, Paraguay and Venezuela are playing each other on Tuesday. It’s too early in the tournament to declare any game a must-win for anyone, but both teams are starting to approach that territory. Since Paraguay already have four losses and they’re at home on Tuesday, this is almost a must-win. They’re going to be at least three points behind a playoff spot, if not more, if they grab a win against Venezuela.

Schedule (all times ET)