Argentina whip Colombia

Brian Homewood

Argentina gave Francisco Maturana an unhappy return as Colombia coach on Sunday, winning their World Cup qualifier 3-0 in Buenos Aires and giving their struggling arch-rivals Brazil a helping hand.

Colombia's defeat allowed Brazil, whose match away to Uruguay will be played on July 1, to stay fourth in the South American World Cup group on a weekend when Argentina, Ecuador and Paraguay moved closer to clinching a place in Japan and South Korea.

Argentina stayed six points clear at the top of the group with 32 points from 13 games while Paraguay (26 points) and Ecuador (25), who both had injury time wins on Saturday, are second and third respectively.

Brazil, in danger of failing to reach the World Cup finals for the first time, did not play but stayed fourth on 21 points, two more than fifth-placed Colombia.

Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay now appear to be fighting for fourth and fifth place, with Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Venezuela effectively out of the running.

The top four teams qualify automatically for the World Cup and the fifth plays off against the winners of the Oceania region -- almost certain to be either Australia or New Zealand.

Brazil are away to sixth-placed Uruguay (18 points) in Montevideo on July 1, a match which completes the 13 of eighteen rounds of games in the marathon competition.

Maturana, who led Colombia at the 1990 and 1994 World Cups and was also in charge when they famously beat Argentina 5-0 in Buenos Aires in 1993, was making the first appearance in his latest stint as coach following the departure of Luis Garcia last month.

Maturana could not have had a hotter reception.

A rampant Argentina scored three times in the first 38 minutes through Kily Gonzalez, Claudio Lopez and Hernan Crespo and threatened to avenge the famous humiliation of eight years ago.

EXCELLENT SAVES

Colombia pulled themselves together at halftime but still needed three excellent saves from goalkeeper Oscar Cordoba to avoid disaster in the second half.

"Qualifying has become more complicated now but we still have mathematical chances," said Cordoba afterwards. His team- mate Mauricio Serna, who like Cordoba plays his club soccer in Argentina for Boca Juniors, added: "The second half was a formality for Argentina, who showed they are one of the best national teams in the world."

Bolivia hammered Venezuela 5-0 at altitude in La Paz in Sunday's other game to go seventh with 13 points -- but with three of their remaining five matches away from home where they have yet to pick up a point.

Julio Cesar Baldivieso and Joaquin Botero scored twice each, with midfielder Raul Justiniano adding the fifth as Venezuela ran out of breath in the thin air and remained rooted to the bottom of the table.

Saturday's games saw Ecuador, who have never played at a World Cup, come from behind to beat Peru 2-1 in Lima, a result which ended Peru's chances. Agustin Delgado scored the winner in injury time with his eighth goal of the competition.

Paraguay also needed an injury time goal from Carlos Paredes to beat Chile 1-0 in Asuncion after their goalkeeper and captain Jose Luis Chilavert had earlier missed a penalty.