[1]Argentina’s hopes of sealing qualification for next year’s World Cup were thwarted in a 1-1 draw with Ecuador on Tuesday as Colombia took a massive stride towards the finals in Brazil with victory over Peru.
The Argentines, who once again left Lionel Messi on the bench, had to settle for a point after Segundo Castillo cancelled out Sergio Aguero’s early spot kick for the visitors at the Olympic Stadium in Quito.
Ugly scenes marred the closing stages, with Argentina captain Javier Mascherano sent off for kicking a medic who was stretchering him off the pitch in an incident that triggered a prolonged touchline melee.
Argentina could have wrapped up qualification with a victory but nevertheless should reach Brazil comfortably with three games remaining.
Argentina were given a dream start after only four minutes when Manchester City striker Aguero fired the visitors ahead.
But Ecuador were back on level terms after 17 minutes. Ecuador captain Walter Ayovi whipped in a free-kick from the left and Castillo slipped his marker to thump home an unstoppable header from close range.
The Ecuador equalizer appeared to sap morale from the Argentine ranks, and they found themselves firmly on the back foot for much of the remainder of the contest.
The introduction of Messi from the bench on 61 minutes raised Argentine hopes but the Barcelona maestro was unable to break the deadlock.
Second-placed Colombia edged towards their first World Cup finals appearance since the 1998 tournament in France with a clinical 2-0 win over Peru in their port stronghold of Barranquilla.
Colombia took the lead after 13 minutes when Monaco striker Radamel Falcao coolly converted from the penalty spot after Napoli winger Juan Zuniga had been bundled over by Victor Yotun for a clear foul.
Teofilo Gutierrez made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time to put Colombia on the threshold of World Cup qualification.
In other games on Tuesday, a goal from Napoli’s highly rated striker Edinson Cavani breathed life into Uruguay’s faltering qualification campaign to clinch a 1-0 win over Venezuela in Puerto Ordaz.
Elsewhere Chile closed in on one of the four automatic qualifying berths with a 3-1 win over Bolivia in Santiago which came courtesy of goals from Eduardo Vargas, Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal. Marcelo Martins got Bolivia’s goal.
Ibra steers Sweden to win, Denmark shocked
In Paris, Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored both goals as Sweden beat the Faroe Islands 2-0 to earn three crucial points in their quest to qualify for the Cup, but their Scandinavian neighbours Denmark suffered a crushing 4-0 home defeat to Armenia.
Paris Saint-Germain striker Ibrahimovic stabbed home the opener from close range 10 minutes before the interval at the Friends Arena in the Stockholm suburb of Solna, and then added a penalty eight minutes from time.
Elsewhere, in Group I, Finland’s chances of finishing second received a blow as they only managed a 1-1 draw in Belarus, a result that leaves the Finns four points behind France.
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