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Argentina still tops the table to advance to the World Cup in South Africa with nine points from four games after Tuesday's match, but Colombia is now second on eight points. Paraguay is third with seven points from three games while Brazil - also with a game in hand - trails in fifth with five points.

 "You win and you lose, and you have to know how to lose," Argentine coach Alfio Basile said.

 His players had more trouble digesting the defeat.

 "I think it is unfair," central defender Martin Demichelis complained. "We leave with nothing. Argentina made a huge effort."

   Veteran Javier Zanetti agreed and stressed, "Argentina, with 10 men, always played better than Colombia" in the match.

 Argentina was reduced to 10 men in the 25th minute after striker Carlos Tevez was sent off for elbowing a rival. The Manchester United player did not protest the red card.

 The side coached by Basile seemed stunned for minutes after Tevez's sending-off, but it still pulled ahead in the 36th minute. Lionel Messi dribbled past three rivals before beating the rival keeper.

 Argentina then had two good chances of scoring before half-time.

 However, when it seemed as though the winners of two World Cups once again had everything under control, Colombian coach Jorge Luis Pinto introduced substitute Freddy Grisales after the break. The midfielder was key in the host's recovery against a visibly tired Argentine side in Bogota's 2,600-metre altitude.

 Ruben Dario Bustos scored on a free kick in the 62nd minute, and substitute Dairo Moreno, the top scorer of the Colombian league, sealed the host's victory seven minutes before the final whistle with a goal that many Argentine players mistakenly thought had started offside.

 "The only place where you cannot be left with 10 men is high altitude," Basile noted after the game.

 However, the coach stressed that the team played pretty much as he wished, even short one player.

 Colombian coach Pinto said his men were doing a "shameful" job before half-time but he was pleased with the work of the substitutes.

 "You have to know how to use the weapons you have on the bench," he noted.

 Pinto acknowledged Argentina's quality and said it played good football and made a big effort although it suffered from exhaustion in the second half.

 "We leave with our heads up high because the team gave everything," Argentine midfielder Javier Mascherano agreed.

 Earlier Tuesday, Venezuela beat Bolivia 5-3 with two goals in the final two minutes of a clash between the presumed weakest teams in South America.

 Venezuela is provisionally fourth in the qualifiers with six points from four games. Bolivia is next to last on one point, just ahead of Ecuador as South America prepares to send at least four of its 10 teams to the 2010 World Cup. It has a potential for a fifth entry if that team wins an intercontinental playoff with a representative from the North, Central American and Caribbean region.

 In Tuesday's early match, Bolivia pulled ahead three times in San Cristobal, Venezuela.

 The first advantage was short-lived with Daniel Arismendi equalizing only one minute after Marcelo Martins' 19th-minute goal.

 Juan Carlos Arce put Bolivia ahead for the second time in the 26th minute, but Arismendi was once again on target to level 13 minutes later.

 Martins scored his second goal of the day in the 77th minute, leading some fans to boo the local team, but Alejandro Guerra made things 3-3 just four minutes later.

 Giancarlo Maldonado made the definitive difference of the game for Venezuela with two goals in the 88th and 90th minutes that left the score 5-3.

 "Venezuela had to go all out for the game," Venezuelan coach Richard Paez said. "We beat a great team. ...God has granted a high level to Venezuelan football. Now they respect us in different competitions. God came out on our side today."

   The coach did not seem to mind spectator complaints but made it clear that the fans would not affect his decisions.

 "The fans in (the state of) Tachira make themselves heard," the coach said. "They put pressure on us, they talk back to us, they are temperamental - they are similar to Richard Paez."

   The qualifiers were set to continue Wednesday with Brazil taking on Uruguay, Ecuador vs Peru and Chile vs Paraguay.