Colombia Shock Argentina and Venezuela Edge Out Bolivia

Colombia provided a shock result in the fourth round of South American World Cup qualifiers, defeating Argentina 2-1 in Bogota.

Argentina took the lead ten minutes before half-time through Lionel Messi, despite being down to ten men after Carlos Tevez was given a straight red card following a clash with Ruben Bustos.

Colombia came out after the break determined to make their man advantage count and got the breakthrough they were looking for on the hour mark with a brilliantly struck free-kick from Bustos.

They continued to press and got their reward ten minutes from time; Dairo Moreno breaking the Argentina offside trap and exchanging passes with Freddy Grisales, before tapping home from a yard out to send the home crowd into raptures.

The man advantage told for Colombia in the remaining minutes and they were able to keep possession of the ball enough to hold out for a famous victory.

In the other game of the night, Venezuela defeated Bolivia in an eight goal thriller in San Cristobal.

Bolivia held the lead three times, through a Marcelo Martins double strike and a single goal from Juan Carlos Arce, but Venezuela responded with two Daniel Arismendi goals and an Alejandro Guerro equaliser, eight minutes from time.

Venezuela left it late to get the winner, Giancarlo Maldonado heading home with one minute remaining, before adding his second in injury time with a well-placed lob over stand-in goalkeeper Luis Guttierez.

Argentina, Paraguay and Colombia Win in 2010 Qualifiers

Argentina continued their one hundred percent start to the World Cup 2010 Qualifiers, defeating Bolivia 3-0 at El Monumental, while Paraguay and Colombia also celebrated victories in round 3 of the Qualifying schedule.

Sergio Aguero marked his first competitive international start with his first goal for Argentina, heading in from a yard out after Martin Demichelis headed the ball back across goal from a Carlos Tevez cross. Argentina controlled the first half, with Lionel Messi is scintillating form, but were only able to get the one goal, going in 1-0 up at half time.

Bolivia were slightly more adventurous in the second half, but still rarely threatened the Argentina goal as the hosts started to turn on the style. Early in the half, Juan Riquelme saw a free-kick tipped over by Carlos Arias in the Bolivian goal, but returned moments later to send a dead-ball curling in off the inside of the post, leaving Arias with no chance.

Riquelme got his second and Argentina's third with quarter of an hour to go, after a brilliant run from the half way line by Lionel Messi, who put the ball on a plate for Riquelme to calmly curl home and secure the victory.

Paraguay turned on the style, defeating Ecuador 5-1 to continue their impressive start to the qualifying tournament. A double strike from Christian Riveros, along with single goals from Haedo Valdez, Roque Santa Cruz and Nestor Ayala gave them a comfortable victory, with Ivan Kaviedes getting Ecuador's scant consolation effort. Ecuador coach Luis Fernando Suarez resigned after the game.

In the final game of the day, Colombia left it late to defeat Venezuela in Bogota, with a Ruben Dario Bustas strike, ten minutes from time, enough to give them victory in a tightly-contested match.

Bolivia Name Squad for Next set of World Cup Qualifiers

Bolivia coach Erwin Sanchez has named his squad for their upcoming qualifying games against Argentina on the 17th November and Venezuela on the 20th.

The squad is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Galarza, Arias and Daniel Vaca.

Defenders: Hoyos, Gatty Ribeiro, Raldes, Amador, Limbert Méndez, Luis Gutiérrez, Verduguez and Alejandro Gómez.

Midfielders: Ronald García, Nicolás Suárez, Lima, Mojica, Ronald Gutiérrez, Campos, Joselito Vaca and Limberg Gutiérrez.

Forwards: Arce, Moreno, Martins and Cabrera.

Kaka Silences Boo Boys, Chile and Paraguay Win

Brazil put in another lacklustre performance for seventy minutes against Ecuador before coming to life in the last twenty, adding four goals to record a 5-0 victory.

Vagner Love gave Brazil the lead after eighteen minutes, tapping in after Maicon had burst into the box and layed the chance on a plate for the CSKA Moscow striker. Brazil struggled to break through the Ecuador defence for the rest of the first half and the majority of the second, looking slack in possession and lacking any sort of cutting edge up front.

The Maracana crowd were becoming increasingly frustrated, especially with the performance of Kaka, starting to boo the AC Milan player every time he received the ball. Kaka provided the perfect response by firing a long range effort which was deflected into the net by Ronaldinho. Minutes later Kaka got on the score-sheet himself, sending a curling effort into the top right hand corner past the despairing dive of Daniel Viteri in the Ecuador goal.

With the Ecuador defence starting to open up on every attack, Brazil added another two goals in the remaining ten minutes. Robinho showed some silky skills to beat Ulises De La Cruz on the byline and his cross deflected to the substitute Elano, who half-volleyed home from inside the area. Kaka then added his second with a weak shot from the edge of the area which Viteri somehow let slip through his grasp.

The final scoreline did flatter Brazil, who for large periods of the game looked a shell of their normal selves. However, no-one will complain at a 5-0 victory and they will be satisfied with four points from their opening two qualifiers.

Chile got their campaign back on track, defeating Peru 2-0 in Santiago. Goals from Humberto Suazo in the first half and Matias Fernandez in the second allowed Chile to cruise to a comfortable victory.

Paraguay beat Uruguay 1-0 thanks to a strike on fifteen minutes by Nelson Valdez, and Bolivia and Colombia drew 0-0 in the last game of the round.

The next two rounds of qualifying games will take place on the 17th and 20th of November.

Second round of 2010 qualifiers in South America, Argentina and Brazil live on Sky Sports

The next set of games in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers will be played over the next two days, with a couple of games being shown live by Sky Sports in the United Kingdom.

The fixtures are as follows:


16/10
Venezuela vs Argentina (live on Sky Sports 1 from 1:30am tonight/Wednesday morning)

17/10
Bolivia vs Colombia
Paraguay vs Uruguay
Chile vs Peru
Brazil vs Ecuador (live on Sky Sports 1 from 12:50am Wednesday night/Thursday morning)

FIFA.com will also provide live updates on the scores for the Brazil and Argentina games for those who are unable to get television coverage for their games.

High-five for Uruguay, Riquelme double for Argentina and more, as 2010 Qualifying kicks off

Despite having not played competitively since the summer's Copa America, Juan Riquelme was in fine form for Argentina, scoring two spectacular first half free kicks in their 2-0 win over Chile. The Argentine's were always in control of the match, but failed to add a third goal in the second half, despite the dismissal of Cristian Alvarez after 55 minutes for the Chileans.

Uruguay got their campaign off to a flier with a 5-0 thrashing of Bolivia in Montevideo. Amazingly, they had five different goalscorers, with first half strikes from Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan added to in the second half by goals from Sebastien Abreu, Vicente Sanchez and Carlos Bueno.

Venezuela provided the first surprise result of the group by winning 1-0 away from home against Ecuador. A well struck free kick from defender Juan Manual Rey in the 67th minute was enough to defeat a lacklustre Ecuador side, for whom Cristian Benitez should have done better with two first half efforts.

In the final game played yesterday, Peru and Paraguay played out a bore draw as they drew 0-0 in Lima.

Tonight, Colombia play Brazil in the final game of this round, with the Colombians looking to make amends for their disappointing Copa America campaign and Brazil hoping to continue their success from that competition into the qualifying tournament.

South Africa 2010 Qualifiers kick off in South America

The qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Cup starts today for the ten South American teams hoping to make their way to South Africa.

Each of the ten teams plays each other twice during the competition, with the top four teams automatically qualifying. The fifth placed team will face a two leg playoff against the fourth placed team in the North American region for a place in the finals.

The tie between Argentina and Chile is the highlight of the opening set of games, with former Argentine national manager Marcelo Bielsa taking his new charges into a competitive game for the first time since taking over this summer.

All of the teams will be looking to get their campaign's off to a good start, but with eighteen games to be played until the end of qualifying, their is still plenty of time to get back on track if the first game doesn't go as planned.

The full first round fixtures are as follows:

Uruguay vs Bolivia
Argentina vs Chile
Ecuador vs Venezuela
Peru vs Paraguay
Colombia vs Brazil (Sunday)

Copa America Day 7

Three teams made their way into the knockout phase as Group A finished last night.

Hosts Venezuela topped the group after an uninspiring 0-0 draw with Uruguay, who will also progress as one of the best two third place teams.

Bolivia were five minutes away from both their first Copa America victory since 1997 and a place in the quarter finals until Claudio Pizarro equalised for Peru, sending his side through in second place. It was the second time in the game that Pizarro had cancelled out a Bolivian lead, as goals from Jaime Moreno and Jhasmany Campos had twice put them into a qualifying position.

Venezuela will now play the second best third place team in the quarter finals (possibly Uruguay again) as Peru face the daunting prospect of Argentina or Paraguay in the last eight.

Copa America Day 5 (and late Day 4)

It was the Robinho show last night in the Copa America as the Real Madrid forward scored a hat-trick in Brazil's 3-0 victory over Chile.

The Brazilians looked pedestrian throughout and the 3-0 scoreline did flatter them somewhat. Humberto Suazo again looked impressive for Chile, although he probably should have levelled the game in the second half, but took too long over his shot, allowing Brazil to get players back onto the line to block his eventual effort.

In the other game of the night, Mexico defeated Ecuador 2-1 to book their place in the quarter finals. A first half strike from in-form Nero Castillo and a second after the break from Omar Bravo gave Mexico the victory, despite Edison Mendez's late effort for the Ecuadorians.

Back to Day 4 and hosts Venezuela put themselves in pole position to progress to the knockout stages with a 2-0 victory over the ten men of Peru. Pedro Garcia was sent off within the first fifteen minutes, but it wasn't until the second half that Venezuela made their man advantage count. Goals from Alejandro Cichero and Daniel Arismendi gave them a comfortable victory.

Uruguay got their tournament back on track after scrapping out a 1-0 victory over Bolivia thanks to Vicente Sanchez's second half goal.

The results in both groups setup an intriguing last set of fixtures, with almost all the teams involved still holding hope of qualifying for the next round.

Copa America Day 1

A 39 year old making his tournament debut, a disputed disallowed goal and Gerry Armstrong pretending to have an intimate knowledge of the Peruvian center-back who scored the first goal. And that was just the opening 45 minutes!

The Copa America got off to a great start yesterday, with no fewer than seven goals spread between the two opening matches.

Peru caused an early upset by defeating Uruguay 3-0 in the opening match. Miguel Villata opened the scoring with a first half header, with substitute Juan Marino, and Jose Guerrero adding two goals after half time to seal a famous victory for Julio Cesar Uribe's side.

Hosts Venezuela opened their campaign with a 2-2 draw with Bolivia. They led twice, through Giancarlo Maldonado and Ricardo Paez, but were unable to hold onto their lead on both occasions thanks to a Alejandro Cichero own goal and an 84th minute equaliser from Jean Carlos Arce for the Bolivians.

The results make Group A an interesting proposition going into the second round of games, with group favourites Uruguay needing to improve dramatically if they are to reach the knock out stages.