Argentina dents Colombia’s chances; Chile survives

Colombia will need a miracle to play in the next World Cup after its 1-0 loss to Argentina in South American qualifying.

Lautaro Martinez scored the only goal of the match in Cordoba in the 29th minute on Tuesday after he was left alone in the penalty box by two Colombia defenders.

Earlier, Chile beat Bolivia 3-2 in the altitude of La Paz thanks to two goals by Alexis Sanchez and another by Marcelino Nunez. The result kept the Chileans in contention in sixth place with 19 points.

In Asia, South Korea qualified for a 10th successive World Cup after beating Syria 2-0 in Dubai.

Second-half goals from Kim Jin-su and Kwon Chang-hoon on Tuesday gave the Koreans a comfortable victory over the bottom team in Asia Group A qualifying.

In Group B, a first-half goal from Takumi Minamino set Japan on the way to beating Saudi Arabia 2-0 at Saitama Stadium and keeping the host on course for a seventh successive World Cup appearance.

The results: Asia: Group A: Syria 0 lost to Korea 2 (Kim Jin-Su 53, Kwon Chang-Hoon 71); Iran 1 (Taremi 44) bt UAE 0; Lebanon 1 (Sabra 45+2) drew with Iraq 1 (Hussein 39).

Group B: Japan 2 (Minamino 31, Ito 50) bt Saudi Arabia; Vietnam 3 (Ho Tan TAi 9, Nguyen Tien Linh 16, Phan Van Duc 76) bt China 1 (Xu Xin 90+7).

Oman 2 (Abdullah Fawaz 54, 89-pen) drew with Australia 2 (MacLaren 15-pen, Mooy 79).

South America: Bolivia 2 (Enoumba 37, Moreno 88) lost to Chile 3 (Sanchez 14, 85, Nunez 77); Uruguay 4 (Betancur 1, De Arrascaeta 23, Cavani 45+1, Suarez 53-pen) bt Venezuela 1 (J. Martinez 65); Argentina 1 (L. Martinez 29) bt Colombia 0; Brazil 4 (Raphinha 28, Coutinho 62, Antony 82, Rodrygo 88) bt Paraguay 0; Peru 1 (Flores 69) drew with Ecuador 1 (Estrada 2).