AFP, Montevideo :
Second half substitute Edison Flores gave Peru a smash and grab 1-0 victory away to goal-shy Colombia as goalkeeper David Ospina’s gaffe cost the hosts in Friday’s World Cup qualifier.
Salomon Rondon scored a hat-trick as rock bottom Venezuela thrashed 10-man Bolivia 4-1.
Peru barely had a shot on goal all match, but five minutes from time Ospina somehow let Flores’s fierce effort from a tight angle beat him at his near post as Peru snatched an unlikely victory on the counter attack.
Colombia had dominated throughout but failed to score for the sixth successive match — a run of more than 550 minutes.
The result propelled Peru into the final of four automatic qualification spots in the single South American table with three matches to play.
Colombia dropped to sixth, three points behind fourth-placed Peru, who did not manage a shot in the first half.
Uruguay are fifth a point behind Peru, after Luis Suarez gave them a 1-0 victory at Paraguay on Thursday.
With Brazil and Argentina already qualified, six teams a vying for the final two automatic berths.
Hosts Colombia paid for the same lack of clinical finishing that had blighted their previous five matches.
Of 28 shots at goal, only two were on target.
Veteran pair Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez were lively in the opening period as Colombia probed relentlessly.
James had a shot from outside the area deflected narrowly wide with goalkeeper Pedro Gallese beaten.
Gallese then blocked Falcao’s close-range prod after the striker was played in by Matheus Uribe before Falcao shinned an attempted volley high and wide.
The once-prolific 35-year-old also headed over from a James corner.
Falcao and James’s influence waned in the second period and Colombia rarely threatened with reported Liverpool and Tottenham target Luis Diaz of Porto a peripheral figure on the left wing.
Colombia came closest when Gallese reacted brilliantly to tip over an inadvertent back header from a defender.
Their profligacy came back to haunt them as Christian Cueva sent Flores scampering away down the left to embarrass Ospina, who had been a spectator throughout.
Venezuela’s hopes of reaching Qatar were long over before kick-off but Rondon showed there is hope for the future with a clinical display.
His near post header and then low finish into the corner put the hosts in control in Caracas before Bruno Miranda replied with a bullet header to give Bolivia hope at the break.
