Defender Nicolas Otamendi sneaked a late equaliser as Argentina, without injured captain Messi, came back from two goals down for a 2-2 draw away to Venezuela on Tuesday.
Defender Nicolas Otamendi sneaked a late equaliser as Argentina, without injured captain Lionel Messi, came back from two goals down for a 2-2 draw away to Venezuela on Tuesday. The Venezuelans were deserving of their second point in eight qualifiers after goals by young forward Juanpi Anor and striker Josef Martinez had their opponents on the ropes.
But striker Lucas Pratto pulled one back with his maiden goal in his second match for Argentina, putting the visitors' tails up after a sluggish first hour in the wet in Merida.
Uruguay had no such problems with equally damp conditions at home in Montevideo where they crushed Paraguay 4-0 with a Luis Suarez masterclass and an Edinson Cavani brace.
Suarez laid on both goals for Cavani and also converted a penalty on the stroke of halftime after midfielder Cristian Rodriguez had scored Uruguay's second.
Cavani went top of the group's scorers with five goals in eight matches. Uruguay snatched the lead in the South American group back from Argentina, who went top on Thursday after beating them 1-0 at home thanks to a Messi goal.
Uruguay have 16 points to Argentina's 15 after eight rounds in the 10-nation South American group with two others to be completed later on Tuesday.
South American champions Chile were held 0-0 at home by improving Bolivia and remain in the bottom four while Venezuela prop up the table with two points.
The top four go through to Russia while the fifth-placed team qualify for an intercontinental playoff.
Argentina were stunned when 22-year-old Juanpi skipped between two defenders on the right of the box and curled a superb left-foot shot into the top far corner in the 34th minute.
The best Argentina could muster in the first half was a shot from outside the box that skimmed the post by Ever Banega, who was wearing Messi's number 10 shirt. Martinez doubled Venezuela's lead seven minutes after the break when he scored from a low cross by the ever busy and dangerous Salomon Rondon, who skipped past Otamendi. Pratto struck six minutes later and Argentina piled on the pressure in the final stages with Venezuela's goalkeeper Daniel Hernandez forced into a fine save to deny Angel Di Maria and keep his side ahead. However, Otamendi made amends in the 83rd minute for his poor performance at the back by steering in a corner from the right at the near post to save Argentina's blushes.
Brazil beat Colombia 2-1
Neymar celebrates after scoring (Getty Images)
Neymar's second-half goal gave Brazil a 2-1 victory over Colombia on Tuesday as the five-times world champions registered their second consecutive win to take the second place in the South American qualifying group for Russia 2018.
The home side got the perfect start when Miranda rose after just 80 seconds to head home a corner and score his first goal in 33 appearances for the national side.
Brazil, playing just their second game under new coach Tite, dominated the first half with a high-pace pressing game but struggled to make clear cut chances and paid the price in 35 minutes when Colombia equalised against the run of play.
James Rodriguez floated in a free kick from 35 yards out and Brazilian defender Marquinhos headed the ball into his own net. Neymar took a pass just inside the box with 73 minutes gone and his angled drive was well placed into the far corner to beat Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina.
It was his 48th goal in 72 international games and takes the Barcelona striker equal to Zico on Brazil's all-time goal-scoring list. The result in the humid heat of Manaus marked the first time that Brazil have won two consecutive games in what has until now been a stuttering qualifying campaign.
"We've been very consistent the last two games," said goalkeeper Allison. "We've become tougher and we deserve congratulations for taking the lead again after the pegged us back. We reacted well."
The result lifts Brazil to 15 points, ahead of Argentina, who came from behind to draw 2-2 against bottom-placed team Venezuela, on goal difference.
Colombia sit two points behind them in fourth place in the 10-team South American group. Uruguay, who beat Paraguay 4-0 earlier in the evening, top the table with 16 points.
Ecuador remain in fifth after going down 2-1 to Peru in Lima. A penalty from Christian Cueva for the home side after 20 minutes was cancelled out by Gabriel Achilier 10 minutes later but Renato Tapia got his first international goal 12 minutes from time to give Peru only their second win in eight games.
Chile could only draw 0-0 with Bolivia and sit in seventh place in the 10-team table.
The top four qualify automatically for Russia 2018 and the fifth place side goes into an intercontinental play off with a team from Oceania.
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