Colombia held Argentina to a 0-0 draw Thursday, increasing their chances to push through to the second round of the Copa America.
The Colombian defense, led by an impressively strong Carlos Sanchez, was able to keep Argentine strikers Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez from scoring, while Colombia’s offense, led by Radamel Falcao Garcia, was able to create several opportunities to score.
Throughout the game, Colombia was able to stay at the same level as the home team and at some moments succeeded to dominate the game, which led to increasing whistling by the frustrated Argentina supporters present in the Santa Fe stadium.
Argentina opened the game the brighter of the two sides, but Colombia came closest to scoring in the first half, wasting two golden opportunities. Ramos fired over when unmarked within the penalty area, which was followed by Moreno putting the ball wide with an open goal ahead of him.
The second half brought more pressure from the Argentinian strikeforce, however, with world number one Messi continuing to struggle to find form for the national team, the Colombian defence held firm. The visitors nearly managed to snatch a breakaway goal as the hosts became more desperate to break the deadlock.
Following the 1-0 win over Costa Rica and the 0-0 against Argentina, Colombia is now leading their group A, followed by Argentina and Bolivia.
On Sunday, Colombia will play Bolivia and will at least need a draw to move on to the second round. However, after this performance which brought a fully deserved point, they can be more than confident of progression.