Carlos Bacca claimed the plaudits with a superb double strike, including a late winner to decide a pulsating clash that began at a hair-raising pace with four goals in the first half.
Ghana and Algeria ratified their top ranking as both advanced to the quarters.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
World champions Germany drew 1-1 with Spain in a high tempo friendly on Friday as they launched their preparations for a title defence in Russia while their opponents had striker Diego Costa making his long-awaited comeback as a substitute.
Chelsea heaped more Christmas misery on Liverpool with a 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge and Olivier Giroud ended a seven-game scoring drought to help Arsenal win 1-0 at Newcastle United and return to the top of the Premier League on Sunday.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
Manuel Pellegrini berated referee Mark Clattenburg and said his performance cost Manchester City victory after a breathless 2-2 draw against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Two goals in three minutes from Napoli's Goran Pandev were not enough to secure victory as his side threw away a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 at home to Udinese in an end-to-end Serie A thriller on Saturday.
Summary of the South American World Cup qualifiers played on Thursday
World Cup hosts Brazil were made to work hard for a 2-0 win on Tuesday over a Zambia side whose coach quit last week and who were missing three players reportedly facing arrest in a bizarre club-versus-country row.
Philippe Coutinho inspired Liverpool to a comfortable 3-1 home win over Everton in the 228th Merseyside derby on Saturday to move provisionally up to third in the Premier League.
Wayne Rooney struck with a 74th-minute free kick to give England a 1-0 win over 10-man Estonia in a Euro 2016 Group E qualifier on Sunday and move to within six goals of Bobby Charlton's record tally of 49.
Aaron Ramsey scored a hat-trick on Saturday as Arsenal thrashed Everton 5-1 in the Premier League at the Emirates with a display of free-flowing football that the Gunners have sorely lacked away from home this season.
Real Madrid are set be thrown out of the Spanish King's Cup after playing banned Russian winger Denis Cheryshev in their last-32 win over Cadiz on Wednesday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Real Madrid's hopes of overhauling La Liga leaders Barcelona suffered a stinging blow when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Valencia.
Carlos Tevez scored twice to give Serie A leaders Juventus a 3-2 win over Fiorentina on Wednesday but Lazio prevented them from celebrating the title by thumping bottom club Parma 4-0, which condemned their opponents to Serie B.
Napoli put a foot in the Europa League semi-finals with a perfectly crafted 4-1 win at VfL Wolfsburg on Thursday as Marek Hamsik scored twice in an Italian masterclass to bring cheer to beleaguered coach Rafael Benitez.
England's Harry Kane scored on his debut less than two minutes after coming on as they brushed Lithuania aside 4-0 at Wembley on Friday.
World No 1 Serena Williams showed plenty of rust in her first competitive outing of the year ahead of the Australian Open, but battled through to defeat Andrea Petkovic in straight sets at the Brisbane International on Tuesday.
Thomas Meunier volleyed a spectacular last-minute goal to give Paris St Germain a 2-1 win at FC Basel, which took them into the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday.
Bayern Munich made predictably light work of Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande, dispatching the Chinese side 3-0 in their Club World Cup semi-final and hitting the woodwork five times on Tuesday.
Second-half goals from Willian and Diego Costa helped Chelsea ease past Hull City 2-0 on Saturday and grab their first win in four Premier League games.
Maria Sharapova claimed her second French Open title when she floored Romanian fourth seed Simona Halep 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4 after a marathon encounter in Saturday's final.
Photos from the Champions League matches played across Europe on Tuesday.
Liverpool added another fairytale comeback to the history books as they fought back from 3-1 down against Borussia Dortmund to reach the Europa League semi-finals after Dejan Lovren's towering stoppage-time header secured a 4-3 win on Thursday.
Here's your weekly dose of weird, true and funny news from around the world.
Spain strolled to a 4-1 win at home to Israel, while Italy survived some first-half scares on the way to a 2-0 win and Ukraine registered a 1-0 home win over Ukraine in an action-packed game.
Lionel Messi marked his 300th La Liga appearance with a record-equalling hat-trick and an assist for Neymar as Barcelona stayed hard on the heels of leaders Real Madrid with a 5-0 romp at home to Levante on Sunday.
La Liga champions Real Madrid beat Getafe 3-1 on Saturday with a goal from Gareth Bale and two strikes from Cristiano Ronaldo to go 12 points behind leaders Barcelona and warm up for next week's Champions League game at Paris St Germain.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Mexican striker Matias Vuoso and Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal both scored twice in a game that roared from end to end and never let up in intensity.
An Eden Hazard hat-trick swept Chelsea back to the top of the Premier League on Saturday when they beat Newcastle United 3-0 at Stamford Bridge after previous leaders Arsenal were thrashed 5-1 at Liverpool.
A round-up of the World Cup qualifying matches played on Friday.
Mario Mandzukic and Nikola Kalinic grabbed hat-tricks as Croatia achieved a record win as an independent nation by demolishing San Marino 10-0 in their final Euro 2016 warm-up match in Rijeka.
Arsenal scored twice in the opening seven minutes and ended the match as a contest with a third in the 19th as they crushed Manchester United 3-0 to move above them into second place in the Premier League at the Emirates on Sunday.
Photos from French Open matches played at the Roland Garros on Friday
Chelsea's Diego Costa continued his stunning start to life in the Premier League with a hat-trick in a 4-2 comeback win over Swansea City on Saturday that left champions Manchester City staring up the table after a 2-2 draw at Arsenal.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances