It's been a busy day in South America's World Cup qualifiers, things are getting more interesting at the top as all the top contenders won their matches with convincing performances. The first match of the day was Ecuador against Venezuela in Quito, goals by Antonio Valencia, Felipe Caicedo and Cristian Ramirez saw an oddly strange Chilean national team get an unexpected painful defeat. 

The next match was Uruguay against Venezuela, the first time Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez started a game this year. The Barcelona striker led the victory with two beautiful assists, one for Lodeiro and another back heel pass to Edinson Cavani who scored a brace in their 3-0 victory in Montevideo's Estadio Centenario. But a lot of attention was set in Paraguay, Colombia was playing without their main star James Rodriguez who is injured. 

Jose Nestor Pekerman's men played a brave match in which a last-minute Cardona goal gave them a much-needed victory against the Guarani. This win gives them a lot of room to maneuver and practically no need for them to risk James next Tuesday against Uruguay, the manager can now save James on the bench for that game, and only use him is things get difficult throughout the 90 minutes. The other two games are Brazil against Bolivia in Natal, and Argentina who will play in Peru later today. 

Photo credit: Selección Uruguay

#Eliminatorias | Tres partidos abrieron la 9a fecha. @Uruguay se mantuvo como líder en la tabla tras vencer a @SeleVinotinto. pic.twitter.com/0vOOGLzO3e

— Selección Uruguaya (@Uruguay) 7 de octubre de 2016