Colombia gain another excellent qualifying victory

SANTIAGO, Chile — Colombia showed again yesterday it is one of the powers in South American World Cup qualifying with a 3-1 victory over a 10-man Chile.

Matías Fernández gave Chile a lead in the 41st, but Colombia came back with three second-half goals from James Rodríguez, Radamel Falcao and Teófilo Gutiérrez. Colombia improved to 13 points, temporarily sharing the lead with Ecuador and Argentina who were playing Peru at press-time last night. Chile stayed on 11 points.

The powerful attacking performance came just four days after Colombia, coached by Argentina’s José Pekerman, dismantled defending South American champion Uruguay 4-0.

Chile played with 10-men after Gary Medel was sent off in the 34th minute. Rodríguez equalized with a free kick in the 58th, and Falcao gave Colombia the lead in the 73rd. Gutiérrez scored three minutes later to seal the victory.

URUGUAY DRAW. Uruguay’s Edinson Cavani scored in the 67th minute to salvage a 1-1 draw against Ecuador. This left South American champions Uruguay on 11 points.

Felipe Caicedo gave Ecuador a 1-0 lead with a 6th minute penalty. Caicedo also scored from a penalty on Friday in Ecuador’s 1-0 victory over Bolivia.

Referee Carlos Amarilla failed to give Ecuador a clear penalty 17 minutes when they when Ecuador were leading 1-0. Uruguay’s goalkeeper Fernando Muslera brought down Christian Benítez in the goal area. Not only did he fail to award the spot kick, but he showed Benítez a yellow card for taking a dive.

Near the end, Ecuador’s Antonio Valencia was sent off.