Colombia, Venezuela surprise winners
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Radamel Falcao put in a man of the match display as Colombia came from a goal down to claim a surprise 3-1 win at Chile in the South American 2014 FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers.
In an encounter that saw both sides reduced to ten men, Atletico Madrid striker Falcao scored one and set up another as Colombia remained in second place in the table.
Despite midfielder Gary Medel being sent off in the 34th minute for hitting Luis Perea, Chile took a half-time lead through Matias Fernandez following a blunder from the Colombian defence.
In the 41st minute Chile's Matias Fernandez struck from outside the box to beat Colombia keeper David Ospina.
However, James Rodriguez levelled just before the hour mark with a free-kick, while Aldo Ramirez teed up Falcao, who put Colombia ahead in the 73rd minute at the Estadio Monumental.
Two minutes later, Teofilo Gutierrez linked up with Falcao before finishing with aplomb althoughColombia were also then reduced to ten men when defender Abel Aguilar was sent off for a second bookable offence with six minutes remaining.
"This is a magnificent win for us. We were sure it was going to happen," Falcao told reporters in Santiago. "This is the result of the maturity of a team who did not give up after Chile's goal."
Colombia are now on 13 points in the CONMEBOL qualifying zone, the same as Ecuador, who played out a 1-1 draw with Uruguay in Montevideo.
Former Manchester City striker Felipe Caicedo put Ecuador ahead with a seventh minute penalty before Edinson Cavani gave the Uruguayans a share of the spoils in the 66th minute.
Ecuador then saw Manchester United midfielder Antonio Valencia sent off in injury time.
Argentina remain top of the group despite a 1-1 draw at Peru in Lima. Carlos Zambrano had put the hosts in front after 22 minutes but Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain (38) drew level for Argentina.
Salomon Rondon's double gave Venezuela a shock 2-0 victory at Paraguay. Rondon struck in either half as Venezuela moved into sixth in the table on 11 points, just one below Chile, who occupy the last automatic qualifying position at the moment.