Argentina won 1-0 in Uruguay on Wednesday to book their place at next summer's World Cup in South Africa.

Diego Maradona's Argentina progressed as substitute Mario Bolatti hit a later winner to end Uruguay's hopes of snatching the final automatic qualification berth in the South American zone.

Bolatti fired home with six minutes remaining after the home defence failed to deal with Juan Sebastian Veron's effort from a free-kick.

Uruguay ended the night with 10 men after Martin Caceres picked up a second yellow card in the build up to Argentina's winner.

Maradona has come in for fierce criticism for his disjointed handling of Argentina's qualification campaign, which as seen him call up over 70 players, but the 1-0 victory in Montevideo should silence his critics - until next summer at least.

Uruguay, meanwhile, now need to prevail in a play-off against Costa Rica if they are to join Argentina in the finals.

At the start of play, Ecuador also had a chance of claiming either the final automatic qualifying berth or the play-off spot, but a 1-0 loss to Chile ended their hopes.

Humberto Suazo's second-half strike handed Marcelo Bielsa's side all three points in Santiago, while Ecuador's misery was compounded in the final 10 minutes when Segundo Castillo received a straight red card for an ugly challenge on Ismael Fuentes.

Ten-man Brazil preserved their unbeaten home record as they held Venezuela to a goalless stalemate in Campo Grande.

The hosts went a man down after 56 minutes when Miranda was given his marching orders for an apparent elbow on Giancarlo Maldonado, but the Vinotinto failed to make their numerical advantage count as the hosts dug in for a point at Estadio Morenao.

The result meant the five-time world champions had drawn four and won five of their nine home qualifiers as they concluded their successful campaign with 34 points.

Paraguay failed in their bid to finish at the top of the standings as they slumped to a surprise 2-0 home defeat to Colombia in Asuncion.

Second-half goals by Adrian Ramos and Hugo Rodallega saw already-eliminated Colombia climb to seventh in the final standings, while Paraguay must settle for third behind Chile and group winners Brazil after their fifth loss of the campaign.

Peru rounded off a disappointing campaign on a high by posting a narrow 1-0 win over fellow group minnows Bolivia in Lima.

Johan Fano hit the only goal after 53 minutes but the goalscorer's night turned sour just two minutes later when he was shown a straight red card.

Fano's early exit levelled up the numbers on the pitch after Bolivia had earlier been reduced to 10 men following the 39th-minute dismissal of Rosauro Rivero for a second yellow card.

Peru's third win of the campaign was not enough to lift Jose Del Solar's side from the foot of the CONMEBOL standings. They finished with 13 points from their 18 games, two fewer than second-bottom Bolivia.