Yerry Mina headed home five minutes before half-time to set Colombia on the way to a crucial World Cup qualifying victory over Peru in the early hours of Friday morning.

The victory lifts Colombia into sixth position in South America's qualification standings ahead of a home meeting with second-placed Argentina on Wednesday.

Everton defender Mina stole in to nod past Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gallese after Juan Cuadrado's free-kick was only partially cleared by the home defence.

Colombia's grip strengthened when Peruvian left-back Miguel Trauco was shown a second yellow card in the final minute of the opening half.

And the visitors capitalised on their advantage soon after half-time. Mateus Uribe, the midfielder from Porto, netted on 49 minutes and clubmate Luis Diaz added a third six minutes later.

Colombia lost right-back Daniel Munoz, on as a substitute, to a 60th-minute red card but comfortably managed the game's closing half hour.

It was a precious victory for Colombia after defeats by Uruguay and Ecuador left Qatar 2022 hopes dangling by a thread.

They are one position outside a play-off place in the 18-match round-robin qualification process, with the top four finishers automatically reaching next year's tournament in the Middle East.

Mina, whose national team begin their Copa America campaign against Ecuador in Brazil on Monday 14 June, has 27 Colombia caps and seven goals.

Alex Iwobi, meanwhile, played for 80 minutes as Nigeria were edged out 1-0 by Cameroon in an international friendly in Austria.

Fulham midfielder André-Frank Zambo Anguissa struck the only goal of the game, netting after 37 minutes.

The teams will meet in another friendly on Tuesday.