Argentina's indifferent World Cup qualifying campaign continued on Saturday when it was held 1-1 at home by Paraguay and had striker Carlos Tevez sent off early again.

The point kept Paraguay top of the 10-team South American group on 14 from seven games with Argentina two points behind in second place following its third draw in a row.

The last remaining winless and unbeaten records ended when Peru beat Venezuela 1-0 to move off the bottom and Colombia lost 1-0 at home to Uruguay, which jumped to third.

Brazil, away to Chile on Sunday, temporarily dropped to sixth and out of the qualifying places.

The top four teams qualify for South Africa in 2010 and the fifth plays off against a side from the CONCACAF region.

Tevez, sent off in the first half of the 2-1 defeat in Colombia in November for a petulant kick at an opponent, faces a ticking off from coach Alfio Basile after leaving his team in the lurch again.

The Manchester United forward, playing only his second international since then, was dismissed after two bad tackles in the first 31 minutes.

"I have to speak to him in private about these dismissals," said Basile.

"Everything was difficult. We played nearly the whole game with 10 men, our goalkeeper was injured and we conceded an own goal. So you can't really analyse this match in the normal way."

Tevez's red card came with Argentina trailing to a Gabriel Heinze own goal, the defender having headed past goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri as both tried to deal with a long ball into the area in the 13th minute.

(Agencies via China Daily September 8, 2008)