South American World Cup Qualifiers—Paraguay Surprises

The match was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina and it was the home side who had the first clear chance of the match, when a free kick executed by expert Juan Roman Riquelme hit the crossbar in the 8th minute.

However, a gross mistake in the 13th minute by Real Madrid defender Gabriel Heinze drastically changed the course of events.

Heinze failed to header the ball clear, collided with his own keeper Roberto Abbondanzieri and finally scored an own goal.

Abbondanzieri was injured in the process and had to be replaced by Juan Pablo Carrizo.

To make things worse,  Argentina  were reduced to 10 men in the 31st minute, after Carlos Tevez of Manchester United, was shown a red card for a violent, ugly foul on Dario Veron.

Paraguay controlled play until the break. However, Basile then brought on Olympic striker sensation, Sergio Aguero, who changed the trend of the match.

Aguero latched on to a great pass from the world`s number one, Lionel Messi, in the 62nd minute to make it 1-1, and he had at least two good chances to put Argentina ahead but could not convert.

Paraguayan striker Nelson Haedo Valdez was disappointed with the result, "We were one step away from making history, we had never beaten Argentina in Argentina," he said.

In other action, Ecuador defeated Bolivia in Quito. Striker Felipe Caicedo put the home side ahead in the 20th minute and Joaquin Botero leveled it six mins. before half-time. Edison Mendez and Cristian Benitez sealed the win for an impressive Ecuador with goals in the 50th and 72nd mins.

Colombia-Uruguay and Peru-Venezuela both produced 1-0 results for Uruguay and Peru respectively.

Chile host Brazil today, Sunday 07 in Santiago. The Chileans have promised to come out gunning to win this match, which is traditionally famed as worth `6 points`.

Next week, Paraguay will host Venezuela on Tuesday, while Wednesday is set to feature the following games: Uruguay-Ecuador, Chile-Colombia, Brazil-Bolivia and Peru-Argentina.

In South America's 10-team World Cup qualifiers, each side plays at home and away with each of the other nine. The top four win a place in the World Cup, with the fifth-place team facing a representative of the North, Central American and Caribbean region in a playoff.

After seven rounds Paraguay tops the standings with 14 points. Argentina is currently second with 12 points.