Buenos Aires  - Lionel Messi rose to the challenge of wearing the historic number 10 Argentina jersey by leading his side to a comfortable 4-0 win over Venezuela Saturday in Buenos Aires, in Diego Maradona's official debut as Argentine national team coach.

Argentina thus redressed its course in the South American qualifiers towards the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and now stand second on 19 points from 11 games, four points ahead of leader Paraguay.

Montevideo  - Uruguay beat the mighty Paraguay by 2-0 Saturday, to add excitement to the South American qualifiers towards the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Paraguay - who lost in Montevideo in a game where they could not impose their trademark play - remain comfortable atop the qualifiers table. Even if second-placed Brazil beat Ecuador Sunday, Paraguay would retain a three-point lead with 23 points from 11 games.

Santiago  - The Rally Dakar is set to be held in South America again in 2010, the Chilean government said Tuesday.

The Chilean government's Chief of Staff Francisco Vidal said Rally Dakar organizers had confirmed the plan, which would give Chile a larger number of stages than it had in the 2009 edition.

This year was the first time that the classic extreme motorsport competition took place completely outside Africa. Fourteen stages were held in January in Argentina and Chile, and proved to be very popular with local spectators.

Santiago - Bolivian President Evo Morales on Monday in Santiago de Chile alleged that governors of restive regions attempted to topple his government.

He arrived Monday in the Chilean capital to attend a summit of South American presidents, who were expected to discuss the Bolivian crisis.

Morales said that the attempted coup d'etat included "occupation of institutions, looting and robbery from state institutions, attempts to attack the national police and the armed forces, and terrorist actions."

Buenos Aires/La Paz - Sunday's recall election of Bolivian President Evo Morales and other leaders is the latest in a series of showdown referenda, between the leftist president and the country's wealthy provinces, over regional autonomy.

Since Morales' election in 2005, the country's first Indio president has pushed through a new constitution and enacted a series of socialist reforms to aid the poor native population in the mountainous west.