By David Salazar (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Sep 12, 2012 12:43 PM EDT

Colombia's win over Chile was a major statement in the CONMEBOL, but the three other contested matches also made huge points.

Argentina Ties Peru 1-1

The Argentines retained first place of the table with the draw, but the match was far from what was expected of them. They were playing a Peruvian team that has been disastrous in qualifying and they had just come off of a confident win over Paraguay. But 22 minutes in, it was Peru who led 1-0 off a Carlos Zambrano win. It took almost 16 minutes before Higuain scored his seventh goal of qualifying to level the score. After that the match stayed rather tight with Peru not willing to allow Argentina to exert their high pressure style. Lionel Messi was relatively absent from the proceedings.

Venezuela Dominates Paraguay 2-0

Another reversal of fortunes as a promising Paraguay side continues It downward spiral and an impressive Venezuelan squad continues its ascent to the World Cup. Venezuela is the only side in CONMEBOL that has yet to make an appearance at the venerated tournament and they made their passage all the more near with a confident win over Paraguay. Jose Salomon Rondon scored in the 45th and 68th minute to put Venezuela just three points behind first place.

Uruguay Draw with Ecuador

The Ecuadorians had nothing to complain about as they went into Montevideo and drew with the home squad. Uruguay meanwhile only got one of a possible six points over the week after being destroyed by Colombia 4-0 on Friday. The draw keeps Ecuador in a tie for second place while Uruguay remains in fourth place and only one point ahead of sixth place Venezuela.


The table looks as follows heading into October's round of matches.

Team

Games played

W

D

L

Goals for

Goals agaisnt

Goal Differentian

Pts

 Argentina

7

4

2

1

15

6

+9

14

 Colombia

7

4

1

2

12

6

+6

13

 Ecuador

7

4

1

2

8

7

+1

13

 Uruguay

7

3

3

1

15

11

+4

12

 Chile

7

4

0

3

12

13

-1

12

 Venezuela

8

3

2

3

7

8

-1

11

 Peru

7

2

1

4

9

13

-4

7

 Bolivia

7

1

1

5

7

12

-5

4

 Paraguay

7

1

1

5

5

14

-9

4