Paraguay march on in South American qualifying

(CNN) -- Paraguay remained four points clear at the top of the South American World Cup qualifying group at the halfway stage after defeating Colombia 1-0 on Saturday.

Argentina bounced back for a first victory in six matches, defeating Uruguay 2-1 in Buenos Aires to claim second place ahead of Brazil, who travel to Venezuela on Sunday.

In Saturday's other match, Bolivia crushed Peru 3-0 to move off the bottom and leave their vanquished visitors propping up the 10-nation table below Venezuela on goal difference.

In Sunday's other qualifying tie, seventh placed Ecuador host fourth-placed Chile.

The Paraguayans continued their surprise charge at the top of the table as Salvador Cabanas scored the only goal of their trip to Bogota, catching Colombia goalkeeper Agustin Julio out of position with a long-range swerving shot.

The visitors then sat on their lead to avoid the sapping effects of the high-altitude setting, and handed sixth-placed Colombia a third successive defeat -- and the first for new coach Eduardo Lara.

Lara replaced Jorge Luis Pinto following the 4-0 loss to Chile, but was unable to change the fortunes of a team who have scored only four goals in nine qualifiers.

Argentina took an early 2-0 lead against fifth-placed Uruguay, with Barcelona striker Lionel Messi heading the opener from Juan Roman Riquelme's cross after only five minutes.

The midfielder had pounced after the ball fortuitously rebounded off Paraguayan referee Carlos Torres.

The hosts went further ahead on 13 minutes when striker Sergio Aguero was first to react after Esteban Cambiasso's header hit the post.

Uruguay captain Diego Lugano reduced the deficit six minutes before halftime following a defensive mistake, but Argentina -- who drew four of their previous five matches -- should have made the winning margin more emphatic with a series of good chances in the second spell .

Earlier on Saturday, Bolivia registered just their second victory of the qualifiers with a comfortable win over Peru in La Paz despite coach Erwin Sanchez having to watch from the stands following his sending-off against Ecuador.

Joaquin Botero scored in the fourth and 16th minutes, while Ronald Garcia wrapped it up 10 minutes before the end of the game.

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