MONTEVIDEO: Argentina kick-started their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign on Tuesday, a 1-0 win at Colombia taking some of the pressure off Gerardo Martino’s struggling side.
Lucas Biglia’s 19th-minute goal proved sufficient to give Argentina their first victory of the young campaign after an opening defeat to surprise leaders Ecuador and two draws.
Biglia’s first international goal gave them a lifeline as an Argentina counter-attack led to Ezequiel Lavezzi’s cross that Cristian Zapata couldn’t control – leaving Biglia to tap in for a 1-0 lead.
Colombia pushed for an equalizer but were denied a penalty when Teofilo Gutierrez went down under a challenge from Ramiro Funes Mori.
Miscommunication between Funes Mori and Sergio Romero almost gifted Colombia an equalizer in the 34th, but the Argentina goalkeeper recovered in time to prevent Carlos Bacca from scoring.
Angel Di Maria could have doubled Argentina’s lead five minutes before halftime but his angled shot rolled just wide.
Substitute striker Paulo Dybala had a goal disallowed and minutes later hit the post, but unlike on Friday against Brazil injury-hit Argentina were able to make the lead stand up.
“We deserved to win, it is fair. We could have scored another goal,” said Martino, who said his happiness was more for his players than for himself.
With the win, they took their total to five points from four matches, with South America’s marathon qualifying heading into a four-month break after Tuesday’s matches.
Ecuador top the table on 12 points, making it four victories in as many matches with a 3-1 triumph over Venezuela at Puerto Ordaz – Venezuela’s fourth defeat in as many games.
Goals from Fidel Martinez, Jefferson Montero and Felipe Caicedo lifted Ecuador, who exploited a porous Venezuelan defence.
Ecuador are three points clear of Uruguay, who climbed into second place with a 3-0 victory over Chile in Montevideo.
The match was a repeat of their stormy Copa America clash, in which Edinson Cavani was sent off after lashing out at Gonzalo Jara when the Chilean defender attempted to poke a finger into the Uruguayan striker’s backside. Jara was later banned for three matches over the incident.
The tension was evident and threatened to boil over around the 20-minute mark.
Amid jawing and gesturing between the teams Uruguay were awarded a free kick and captain Diego Godin slotted home the opener from the set-piece in the 23rd minute.
Things settled down in the second half. But Chile’s efforts to find an equalizer were thwarted and two quick goals from Alvaro Pereira in the 61st and Martin Caceres in the 65th saw Uruguay hand Chile their first defeat of the campaign.
To compound Chile’s misery, midfielder Jorge Valdivia was shown a red card after the final whistle, apparently for remarks to the referee.
The defeat left Chile on seven points, level with Paraguay who defeated Bolivia 2-1 in Asuncion, with Brazil later wrapping up the day against Peru. -- AFP