BARRANQUILLA (Colombia), Oct 12: Colombia qualified for the 2014 World Cup finals while Ecuador and Chile all but sealed tickets on Friday leaving Uruguay most likely to play a fourth successive inter-continental playoff to join them in Brazil next year.

Colombia fought back with striker Radamel Falcao converting two late penalties against a Chile side inspired by Alexis Sanchez’s first-half brace for a 3-3 draw and the point that put them in their first finals since 1998 with a match to spare.

Chile went ahead with a penalty by Arturo Vidal in the 19th minute after striker Eduardo Vargas was brought down. Sanchez then scored twice in seven minutes to stun the Colombians and put Chile three up inside the opening half hour.

With Chile having lost Carlos Carmona to a red card in the 66th minute, Teo Gutierrez pulled one back in the 69th and fellow striker Falcao added two penalties in the last 15 to secure Colombia the point they needed.

In Quito, Jefferson Montero scored on the half hour to give Ecuador a 1-0 home win over Uruguay and climb to third in the South American group behind leaders Argentina, who qualified last month, and Colombia.

Venezuela’s slim hopes of going to the finals for the first time ended in a 1-1 draw at home to Paraguay, while a rampant Argentina, without Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain, beat Peru 3-1 in Buenos Aires with Ezequiel Lavezzi scoring twice after Claudio Pizarro’s fine 21st-minute opener for Peru.

Results:

Colombia 3 Chile 3

Ecuador 1 Uruguay 0

Venezuela 1 Paraguay 1

Argentina 3 Peru 1

—Agencies