Argentina was outplayed and beaten 1-0 by a Chilean team led by its former coach Marcelo Bielsa in the World Cup qualifiers on Wednesday while Brazil continued its astonishing run of goalless draws at home. Dunga's team, held 0-0 by Bolivia last month and Argentina in June, this time played out a dismal stalemate with Colombia as the Maracana crowd jeered the team, insulted the coach and then left early in what has become a sad ritual. Paraguay moved further ahead at the top of the 10-team South American group with a late 1-0 win over bottom side Peru and Venezuela kept its faint hopes of a first World Cup appearance alive by coming from behind to beat Ecuador 3-1. Paraguay, which has won seven of its 10 matches, has 23 points, six clear of Brazil. Argentina is third with 16 points and only six separate them from eighth-placed Venezuela, with Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador and Colombia sandwiched in between. The top four qualify directly for a place at the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa and the fifth plays off against a side from the North and Central American CONCACAF region for another place. Argentina and Brazil, who both won at the weekend, continued their inconsistent campaigns. Argentina, missing mercurial playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme through suspension, never found an answer to a lively, creative Chile team led by their former mentor Bielsa, whose six year stint in charge included the 2002 World Cup. Fabian Orellana turned in the winner in the 36th minute in Santiago following a sweeping move to move Chile level on 16 points with their opponents and give them their first win over their neighbours for 35 years. “I have never seen a performance like this from Chile, it was amazing how much running they did, they were like a machine and pressed us in every part of the pitch and didn't let us settle,” said Argentina coach Alfio Basile. “It seemed like there were 15 of them against 11 of us. We thought they would get tired in the second half but they kept going very well.” In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil struggled to muster a chance against a resolute but negative Colombia team, which completed its fifth qualifier without scoring and has managed a total of only four goals. Kaka blamed their lethargy on the 15-hour journey home from Venezuela following their 4-0 win over Sunday. El Salvador advances El Salvador secured a spot in the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying on Wednesday, while Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala will have to wait until the last week to try to get their berth. The Salvadorans, managed by Mexican Carlos de los Cobos, got an easy 2-0 win over lowly Surinam and now have 10 points in Group 3, where Costa Rica reached 15 points after a 1-0 victory over Haiti. Both teams, along with the United States, will play in the final round, where the top three teams qualify for the 2010 World Cup, and the No. 4 nation goes to a playoff against the fifth-place team in South America. At Edmonton, Mexico came back twice to draw with a spirited Canada 2-2 at Commonwealth Stadium. Mexico has 10 points to lead Group 2, where Jamaica remained in contention by defeating Honduras 1-0 at National Stadium. Honduras, which plays Mexico in the last round stayed on nine points, while Jamaica has seven. The Mexicans control their destiny and only need a tie to qualify. At Port of Spain, Trinidad, Russell Latapy and Dwight Yorke scored second-half goals to give Trinidad and Tobago a 2-1 victory over the US. On the final night of the round, Nov. 19, Trinidad hosts Cuba, and the United States plays Guatemala at Commerce City, Colorado. - AP __
