Uruguay and Chile recorded crucial wins on Tuesday to keep their World Cup qualification hopes alive on a night when Ecuador moved a point closer to a guaranteed spot in Qatar thanks to a 1-1 draw with Peru.

A win would have guaranteed Ecuador a place in November’s finals with two games remaining but Edison Flores scored a second half equaliser for Peru to cancel out Michael Estrada’s second minute opener.

The Ecuadoreans are still favourites to join Brazil and Argentina. They sit third in the South American group with 25 points, three ahead of Uruguay and four ahead of Peru.

The top four qualify automatically and the fifth-placed side goes into a playoff with a team from the Asian confederation.

Chile is sixth with 19 points, Colombia is in seventh with 17 and Bolivia sits in eighth with 15.

In La Paz, a double from Alexis Sanchez helped Chile beat Bolivia 3-2, while in Montevideo, Uruguay hammered Venezuela 4-1.

On a heavy pitch in the Bolivian capital, Sanchez put Chile ahead after 14 minutes but Marc Enoumba equalised eight minutes before halftime for the home side.

Marcelino Nunez restored Chile’s lead after 77 minutes and Sanchez added a third with four minutes remaining.

Bolivia’s top goalscorer Marcelo Martins pulled one back two minutes later but Chile held on.

Uruguay, meanwhile, scored three times in the first half as they beat bottom side Venezuela.

Rodrigo Betancur, Giorgian De Arrascaeta and Edinson Cavani put the hosts three up at the break.

Luis Suarez had a penalty saved three minutes into the second half but scored after being allowed to retake the kick to make it 4-0.

Josef Martinez got one back for Venezuela after 65 minutes but it was too little too late for a team whose qualification hopes were long dead.