SANTIAGO, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) — Pervis Estupinan and Moises Caicedo scored goals in each half as Ecuador edged closer to clinching a place at next year’s FIFA World Cup with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Chile here on Tuesday.
Estupinan fired the visitors ahead in the ninth minute with an angled left-footed finish into the far corner after a bungled defensive clearance.
Chile were reduced to 10 men four minutes later when Arturo Vidal was shown a straight red card for striking Felix Torres with a boot to the face during an aerial duel.
Caicedo put the result beyond doubt with a low drive from the edge of the penalty area in second-half stoppage time.
The result leaves Ecuador third in the 10-team South American zone standings with 23 points from 14 games, six points clear of fourth-placed Colombia with four qualifiers remaining. Chile are sixth with 16 points.
The top four teams will automatically qualify for football’s showpiece tournament in Qatar while the fifth-ranked side will advance to an intercontinental playoff.
In other South American qualifiers on Tuesday, Argentina were held to a goalless home draw by Brazil, Bolivia cruised to a 3-0 home win over Uruguay, Peru beat Venezuela 2-1 in Caracas and Colombia were held to a 0-0 home draw by Paraguay.
