Argentina’s Daniel Diaz in a tussle with Chile’s Jean Beausejour during their World Cup qualifier in Santiago on Wednesday. (AP)

Buenos Aires/London: Argentina were outplayed and beaten 1-0 by a Chilean team under their former coach Marcelo Bielsa in the World Cup qualifiers on Wednesday while Brazil continued their astonishing run of goalless draws at home.

Dunga’s team, held 0-0 by Bolivia last month and Argentina in June, this time played out a dismal stalemate with Colombia as the Maracana crowd jeered the team, insulted the coach and then left early in what has become a sad ritual.

Paraguay moved further ahead at the top of the 10-team South American group with a late 1-0 win over bottom side Peru and Venezuela kept their faint hopes of a first World Cup appearance alive by coming from behind to beat Ecuador 3-1.

Argentina and Brazil, who both won at the weekend, continued their inconsistent campaigns.

Argentina, missing mercurial playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme through suspension, never found an answer to a lively, creative Chile team led by their former mentor Bielsa, whose six-year stint in charge included the 2002 World Cup.

Spain, England and the Netherlands maintained their perfect starts to World Cup qualifying to open up big leads in the race for places at the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

Portugal’s faltering challenge continued with a 0-0 draw at home to 10-man Albania.

David Villa, the leading scorer at this year’s European Championship, scored a late winner for Spain in a 2-1 victory at Belgium after the Euro 2008 winners had fallen behind in Brussels after just seven minutes.

Helped by two goals from Ivan Rakitic, Croatia outplayed bottom-placed Andorra 4-0 to draw level on seven points with Ukraine, who didn’t have a game and next play at England on April 1.

The Netherlands also hold a five-point advantage in Group 9 in the race for spots at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after beating Norway 1-0.

Alberto Aquilani’s first two international goals helped World Cup holders Italy stay three points clear at the top of Group 8 by beating Montenegro 2-1 in Lecce. The Italians lead Ireland who edged Cyprus 1-0 in Dublin.

Germany edged Wales 1-0 with a 72nd-minute goal by Piotr Trochowski in Moenchengladbach to open a four-point advantage over Russia and Wales in Group 4. Helped by two own-goals and a late strike by Andrei Arshavin, Russia outplayed Finland 3-0.

Slovakia’s Stanislav Sestak scored in the 85th and 86th to overturn Poland’s lead and win 2-1 at home to jump from third to first in Group 3.

Jamaica followed up Saturday’s shock 1-0 home win over Mexico with a repeat performance against Honduras on Wednesday to stay in the hunt for a place in the final round of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers.

El Salvador booked their spot with a 3-0 win over Suriname while Trinidad & Tobago are virtually there after Russell Latapy and Dwight Yorke, who have a combined age of 76, gave them a 2-1 win over a weakened United States.

Mexico are also close to advancing to the final round of North and Central American qualifiers despite being held 2-2 by already-eliminated Canada.