Football
ESPN staff 7y

Brazil's 9-game win streak ends in Colombia; Argentina draw; Chile fall

Brazil's perfect World Cup qualifying record under coach Tite ended with a 1-1 draw at Colombia in Barranquilla on Tuesday.

The Selecao, who have already qualified for the finals in Russia next summer, had gone nine straight qualifiers with a win under the former Corinthians coach. But an excellent second-half header from Radamel Falcao saw Brazil fail to take maximum points for the first time under Dunga's successor.

Willian had opened the scoring with a stunning strike just before half-time. After a cleared corner, a ball back into the Brazil box found Neymar, whose leaping layoff found the Chelsea man, who unleashed an unstoppable shot with the outside of his right foot past a stretched David Ospina and into the top corner.

But Colombia were undeterred, and found their equaliser in the 56th minute, after from some fine work down the right side.

Santiago Arias found space behind left-back Filipe Luis before playing an inch-perfect cross to the in-form Falcao, who expertly headed low and across Alisson to give the Colombians a valuable home result.

With the result, Brazil sit atop the table with 37 points. Colombia are in third with 26.

Meanwhile, struggling Argentina slumped to a 1-1 home draw against last-placed Venezuela at the Monumental in Buenos Aires.

The hosts, coming off a goalless affair in Uruguay last week, sensationally fell behind after 50 minutes when John Jairo Murillo calmly finished off a sweeping counter-attack with a deft chip over Argentina keeper Sergio Romero and into an empty net.

However, it didn't take long for Argentina to answer, albeit with help from Venezuela. Marcos Acuna wonderfully rounded his marker down the left and crossed into the box where Mikel Villanueva unwittingly turned the ball into his net in the 54th minute.

Each side had chances in the closing half hour, but the two-time world champions, who remained in fifth place, couldn't find the winner and were booed off the pitch by the home support at the final whistle.

Chile suffered a huge setback, losing to 10-man Bolivia 1-0 in the altitude of La Paz.

The defending Copa America champions came into the day's round of matches in fourth place, but suffered their second straight defeat against the already-eliminated Bolivians which saw them drop out of the qualifying spots for Russia.

Juan Carlos Arce was the hero for the hosts, converting his penalty after Chile midfielder Marcelo Diaz was adjudged to have handled Jorge Flores' shot inside the box in the 59th minute.

Alejandro Chumacero saw red just before the final whistle.

Uruguay rose to second place with a 2-1 victory over Paraguay in Asuncion.

The goals started flying in late in the second half when Federico Valverde's long-range shot found the net for the visitors in the 76th minute after taking a deflection.

Uruguay doubled their advantage four minutes later when Luis Suarez's shot hit the crossbar and bounced off Paraguay's Gustavo Gomez before going into the net.

Angel Romero then scored a consolation goal two minutes from time to round out the scoring.

Ten-man Peru kept their hopes of reaching Russia alive with a thrilling 2-1 victory over stumbling Ecuador in Quito.

Edison Flores and Paolo Hurtado scored within three minutes of each other in the 73rd and 76th minute, respectively, to give the visitors what appeared to be a insurmountable lead.

However, Enner Valencia converted an 80th-minute penalty after Christian Ramos received a second yellow card for a bad foul in the box, which set the stage for a wild finish in which Peruvians would ultimately hold on to the three points.

The win lifts Peru, who haven't reached the World Cup finals since 1982, to fourth place with 24 points. Ecuador are in eighth with 20.

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