Hosts Colombia maintained their 100 per cent start to the Copa America last night with a stormy 2-0 victory over Chile which saw two players sent off and four yellow cards.
With both teams already assured of a place in the quarter-finals, the prize at stake was top-spot in Group A and avoiding a possible meeting with Brazil in the last eight.
Colombia took the lead early, striker Victor Aristizabal slotting his third goal of the tournament from the penalty spot after nine minutes to send the partisan 40,000 crowd into raptures.
But the first half was marred by an ugly flashpoint just after the half-hour mark, which saw Colombia attacker Elkin Murillo and Chile midfielder Pablo Galdames dismissed.
Both were given their marching orders from Uruguayan referee Jorge Larrionda for foul and abusive language. Colombia made sure of the win in injury time, Eulalio Arriaga showing wonderful skill to outfox Sergio Vargas in the Chile goal.
In the earlier Group A match Ecuador thrashed Venezuela 4-0 to give themselves fresh hope of reaching the quarter-finals as one of the two best third-placed teams.
Two strikes from centre-forward Agustin Delgado and goals from Angel Fernandez and Edison Mendez completed the rout for Ecuador in a one-sided tie.
The win lifted coach Hernan Dario Gomez's side into third place in the group following earlier defeats against Chile and Colombia. The emphatic margin of victory against Venezuela helped Ecuador's cause, improving their goal difference to even from minus four.
"That was better. It's going to be difficult to qualify for the quarter-finals but we still have a chance," Gomez said. "The Copa America is turning into a beautiful celebration and we want to stay in it," Gomez said.
Gomez insisted he had not been tempted to change his side despite opening losses against Chile and Colombia.
"I've always been calm with the team. The earlier results didn't really reflect the way we played - I think we played better against Colombia (where they lost 1-0) than we did tonight," said Gomez.
Ecuador were set on the way to victory early on when Delgado opened the scoring on 16 minutes with a well-taken header following a good ball from Kleber Chala.
Angel Fernandez added number two near the half-hour mark, his shot beating Rafael Dudamel easily after an excellent cross from Delgado.
Edison Mendez got the second on 59 minutes, crashing a thunderous shot into the net from 15 yards to give Dudamel no chance. Delgado added the fourth four minutes later, his left-foot shot bending viciously to beat Dudamel.