Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay all chalked up vital wins on Wednesday in the South American zone World Cup qualifiers.
Argentina defeated Chile 2-0 away to stay top on 25 points from 10 games, while Brazil, 1-0 winners at home to Colombia and Paraguay who thumped Peru 5-1, are level on 20 points in second place.
In the other games, Ecuador kept up their hopes of qualifying for the finals in Japan and South Korea by notching up a rare 2-1 away win in Venezuela and Bolivia and Uruguay played out a goalless draw.
Brazil put in a mediocre performance but still managed to give new coach Emerson Leao a win with a last-gasp 1-0 victory over 10-man Colombia.
Central defender Roque Junior came to rescue of Leao, who took over when Wanderley Luxemburgo was sacked. However, the Brazilians poor performance provoked widespread dissatisfaction from the Brazilian fans, who booed them at the end and yelled `you are nothing but a little team' at the players.
Leao, though, defended his players performance. "The fans are perfectly entitled to show their displeasure if they feel the team is not playing well," he said.
"However, it is a little unfair as they are only just starting out under my regime and the players cannot always produce a great performance." he added.
