Colombia's Radamel Falcao Garcia (R) celebrates after scoring during a 2014 World Cup qualifying soccer match against Chile in Barranquilla, Colombia, Friday. — AP BUENOS AIRES — Colombia qualified for the 2014 World Cup Finals while Ecuador and Chile all but sealed tickets Friday leaving Uruguay most likely to play a fourth successive inter-continental playoff to join them in Brazil next year. Colombia fought back with striker Radamel Falcao converting two late penalties against a Chile side inspired by Alexis Sanchez's first-half brace for a 3-3 draw and the point that put them in their first finals since 1998 with a match to spare. Chile went ahead with a penalty by Arturo Vidal in the 19th minute after striker Eduardo Vargas was brought down. Sanchez then scored twice in seven minutes to stun the Colombians and put Chile three up inside the opening half hour. With Chile having lost Carlos Carmona to a red card in the 66th minute, Teo Gutierrez pulled one back in the 69th and fellow striker Falcao added two penalties in the last 15 to secure Colombia the point they needed. Montero put Ecuador ahead when he ghosted in behind Maxi Pereira to steer the ball home as goalkeeper Fernando Muslera failed to cut out Antonio Valencia's cross. In Quito, Jefferson Montero scored on the half hour to give Ecuador a 1-0 home win over Uruguay and climb to third in the South American group behind leader Argentina, which qualified last month, and Colombia. The Ecuador team did a lap in honor of their late teammate Cristian Benitez, who died suddenly of heart failure in July. Venezuela's slim hopes of going to the finals for the first time ended in a 1-1 draw at home to Paraguay, while a rampant Argentina, without Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain, beat Peru 3-1 in Buenos Aires with Ezequiel Lavezzi scoring twice after Claudio Pizarro's fine 21st-minute opener for Peru. The fifth-place playoff berth has become a Uruguay fixture at the last three World Cups with it qualifying that way in 2002 and 2010, when it went on to reach the semifinals, though it lost to Australia in the playoff in 2006. Finishing fifth will put it into a two-legged playoff agtainst Asian qualifier Jordan next month. The defeat in Ecuador where Luis Suarez, joint top scorer with Messi in the group with 10 goals, came closest to an equalizer with a dipping free kick has left Uruguay with a tough task Tuesday to beat Argentina by a big score in a bid for an automatic ticket. A draw in Santiago, where Chile hosts Ecuador, will ensure both take the last two automatic places in Brazil. Ecuador has a goal difference of plus five, Chile plus three and Uruguay, which is three points behind them both, minus one. Going into Tuesday's last round of the marathon 16-match group, Argentina has 32 points, Colombia 27, Ecuador and Chile 25 and Uruguay 22. — Reuters
