The Argentina manager, Diego Maradona, has restored some of his management credibility with a 1–0 win over Colombia, but his side's performance was far from impressive against a poor side and there will be further questions after he chose to leave a limping Javier Mascherano on the pitch for the final ten minutes, substituting Carlos Tevez instead.
The win, secured by a second-half goal from Daniel Díaz, strengthens Argentina's hold on the final direct qualification place after their humbling 6–1 defeat to Bolivia in their last qualifier. But for the first 45 minutes it was the Colombians who looked the likely winners, before Argentina upped their game in the second half.
"We lacked determination and in the qualifiers this is very costly," Maradona said. "We tried to break forward on counter-attacks and in reality it was they who did this. It wasn't what we had practised, neither was it what we wanted. It seemed like we were playing in Bogotá and not in Buenos Aires, not at the stadium of River [Plate]. You could hear the Colombians more than the Argentinians and that shouldn't happen.
"In the first half, Colombia won all the 50-50 balls," he said. "That can't happen in our own stadium. At the start, it seemed we weren't concentrating. I'm happy with the result but not the first half."
Lionel Messi admitted that the Colombians had been committed opponents. "It was very tough, they were very strong and it was complicated," Messi said. "There were a lot of physical clashes and hard tackling. It was an ugly game."
In the other matches, normal service resumed as Brazil replaced the surprise leaders Paraguay at the top of the group and Bolivia's good form ended with home defeat, 1–0 to Venezuela. Argentina remain fourth behind Brazil, Paraguay and Chile with five games to play. The top four sides qualify for South Africa directly, with the fifth-placed team – currently Uruguay – entering a play-off with the fourth side from Concacaf.
Brazil went top on goal difference after a very impressive 4–0 win in Uruguay. Dani Alves, Juan, Luis Fabiano and Kaka all scored to give the visitors their first win in Montevideo since 1976.
The Brazil coach, Dunga, was disappointed with Uruguay's physical tactics, saying: "When you play football, you always win."
Bolivia's Marcelo Martins missed a penalty in La Paz before Ronald Rivero scored his own goal. Chile beat Paraguay 2–0 through goals from Matías Fernández and Humberto Suazo, but both sides are comfortably placed to qualify.
"Our opponents were clearly better than us," said Paraguay's coach, Gerardo Martino. "There's not much to say."
In the Concacaf region, regional superpowers Mexico and USA had contrasting fortunes against Central American minnows while regular qualifiers Costa Rica remained top of the six-team group after a 3–2 win in Trinidad & Tobago, ruining a big day for Dwight Yorke, who was playing in a stadium named after him. Trinidad & Tobago have now only an outside chance of a second successive finals appearance.
Mexico suffered their fourth successive away defeat with a 2–1 loss in El Salvador on Saturday, while USA came from 1–0 down to beat Honduras 2–1 in Chicago.
