Carlos Tevez scores decisive penalty; Argentina reaches semi-finals
Carlos Tevez scored the winning penalty as Argentina beat Colombia 5-4 on spot kicks – after a 0-0 draw – to reach the Copa America semi-finals.
Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina was the hero for Colombia in normal time, denying a dominant Argentina with two world-class saves in a bad-tempered game that saw eight players booked but he had little chance in the shootout as Luis Muriel, Juan Zuniga and Jeison Murillo all fluffed their lines from the spot.
However, both Marcus Rojo and Lucas Biglia missed opportunities from 12 yards to win the game for Argentina before Tevez, who is close to a return to Boca Juniors, stepped up in sudden death to set up a potential semi-final clash with Brazil, who play Paraguay on Sunday morning in the fourth and final quarter-final.
Radamel Falcao was dropped to the bench in place of Jackson Martinez for Colombia as they looked to mix things up in forward areas after scoring just one goal in their three Copa America games.
The switch didn’t have the desired effect though as Colombia looked stale in attack throughout, didn’t win a corner until the 68th minute and rarely ventured outside their half in numbers.
It was Argentina doing all the pressing and only a double save from the brilliant Ospina midway through the first-half kept the World Cup runners-up out.
The Arsenal keeper who is being rumoured to be repaced by the legendary Petr Cech showed brilliant reactions to deny Lionel Messi from eight yards out with a point blank header after he made a fine save low down to his left from Sergio Aguero just seconds earlier.
Colombia were wobbling badly just before half-time but stayed in the game as Messi and Biglia failed to seriously test Ospina despite having good openings.
Tevez was brought on with 20 minutes to go, replacing Aguero, while Falcao also entered the fray but had little impact on the game, something that couldn’t be said of Ospina, who denied Nicholas Otamendi as the time ticked down.
It was a majestic fingertip save, pushing the ball onto the inside of the post before Zuniga completed the last ditch defending with a hooked clearance off the line.
It looked like it wasn’t going to be Argentina’s night but some wayward finishing in the shootout from Muriel and Murillo presented Tevez with a chance for glory – and this time Argentina took it.
