Ecuador beat Uruguay late Thursday to top the South American World Cup qualifying group after three games but Brazil and Ar-gentina were made to wait after their clash was postponed be-cause of heavy rain.

Ecuador won 2-1 to record their third consecutive win and their best start to the qualifying phase.

Goals by Felipe Caicedo and Fidel Martinez Tenorio gave the Andean side, who began with a shock 2-0 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires last month, the three points in Quito after Edinson Cavani had scored an equaliser for Uruguay.

The win was at altitude but Ecuador were missing four leading players including the England-based pair of Valencias, Antonio and Enner, while Uruguay, still without Luis Suarez, were strengthened by Cavani’s return from suspension.

“(Ecuador) are a good team and they were playing at home where we suffered a lot,” Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez told reporters.

“The altitude always has an influence, if a player is imprecise he will be more so at altitude. But I’m not going to use that as an ex-cuse, it’s not my style.”

Chile missed a chance to stay joint top when Colombia came from behind to grab a deserved1-1 draw in Santiago.

A header from Artur Vidal on the stroke of half-time put the home side ahead but Colombia were the better team in the second period and Real Madrid striker James Rodriguez got an equaliser with 67 minutes gone.

Argentina, with only one point from two matches, were supposed to meet Brazil in Buenos Aires but the match was postponed because of torrential rain in the Argentine capital.

“We met with match officials and the Argentine representatives and there’s no way the game could go on,” Brazil’s assistant coach Gilmar Rinaldi told reporters at the stadium.

“The players could be at risk and the referee decided to postpone the game.”

The game was being played last night at the same venue.

Brazil are sixth in the 10-team group, while Argentina are eighth. Four teams qualify automatically and a fifth goes into a play-off.

Bolivia, who lost their first two matches, lifted themselves off the bottom of the table with a 4-2 win over Venezuela.

Striker Rodrigo Ramallo scored twice, midfielder Juan Arce converted a penalty and Rudy Cardozo hit their fourth in the second half.

Venezuela, who struggled to knit moves together, replied through Mario Rondon and Richard Blanco though had fellow striker Luis Seijas sent off in added time.

Results
Argentina vs Brazil - late
Bolivia vs Venezuela - 4-2
Chile vs Colombia - 1-1
Ecuador vs Uruguay - 2-1
Peru vs Paraguay - late