Argentina beat neighbor Uruguay 2-1 in a bruising World Cup qualifier on Saturday to end a run of six successive draws while South American group leader Paraguay won again, 1-0 away to Colombia. Bolivia beat Peru 3-0 in the other match and coach Erwin Sanchez said he hoped that their win could help contribute to unity in the politically-divided nation. As the marathon 18-match campaign reached the halfway mark, Paraguay's win in Bogota kept it top with 20 points, four ahead of Argentina. Brazil, which visits Venezuela on Sunday, and Chile, which travels to Ecuador, is a further three points behind. Uruguay's defeat kept it fifth with 12 points and Colombia stayed sixth with 10. The top four teams qualify directly for South Africa and the fifth play off against a team from the CONCACAF region. Argentina coach Alfio Basile, who likes his team to play with verve and style, admitted that all he wanted on Saturday was a win, whether it was pretty or not. “A result was fundamental today and we got it,” he said. Argentina forward Lionel Messi headed in after six minutes from a cross provided by Juan Roman Riquelme, whose place had been under threat after a run of lacklustre displays. Sergio Aguero added another seven minutes later and Martin Demichelis had another goal disallowed for offside before the half hour in Buenos Aires. Paraguay handed Colombia's new coach Eduardo Lara a losing start when Salvador Cabanas caught goalkeeper Agustin Julio off his guard and scored with a swerving 30-meter shot from near the touchline in the ninth minute. Colombia, which has scored only four goals in nine games, slumped to a third straight defeat in the group.
