Argentina goes through to the semifinals. Such a heartbreak for Colombia.
Exceptional Game!
ARG 7: Tevez scores.
COL 7: Murillo blasts it away. Miss!
ARG 6: Rojo misses. Hits the crossbar.
COL 6: Zuniga misses. Romero saves. Horrible penalty!
ARG 5: Biglia misses. Sent it wide.
COL 5: Cardona scores despite Romero in front of the ball. Went from right under his knee.
ARG 4: Lavezzi scores low left corner. Ospina went right way. Close call!
COL 4: Muriel misses. Blasted it over!
ARG 3: Banega scores low right corner. Ospina guesses right.
COL 3: Cuadrado scores left top corner. Romero guesses right.
ARG 2: Garay scores left top corner. Ospina goes the right way.
COL 2: Falcao scores. Left top corner. Romero goes the right way though.
ARG 1: Messi scores. Ospina goes the wrong way.
COL 1: James scores. Romero goes the wrong way.
Penalties coming on in sometime.
- ARG 0-0 COL
Full time: And the game goes to penalties. Argentina though came close so many times but failed to beat Ospina who had a marvellous game. The man of the match for sure! What a game this has been! Super exciting! Super active! So much energy! Amazing watch!
90+4′ – A late late corner for Argentina but Ospina catches it well.
90+3′ – Argentina gets a free kick but Banega takes it and blasts it out. It’s a goal kick for Colombia.
90+2′ – A corner kick by Argentina and Messi diving gets a head to it but it goes over the bar.
90+2′ – Messi booked for arguing with the referee.
90+1′ – Excellent tackle by Murillo to put the ball out.
88′ – SUPER CLOSE! Lavezzi passes on superbly to Tevez. Ospina comes charging off to save and the ball comes off Zapata and Murillo runs to put the ball out just just outside the goal line. Colombia still hang on!
87′ – Sub(ARG): Di Maria off. Ezequiel Lavezzi on.
86′ – Falcao gets booked for his foul on Otamendi.
85′ – Sub(COL): Luis Muriel in. Ibarbo off.
84′ – Excellent ball in by Cuadrado but Falcao fell just short of making contact with it.
83′ – James get a free kick as Rojo puts a shoulder challenge at him.
80′ – CLOSE! Di Maria’s free kick and Otamendi strikes it and Ospina stretches to brush his hand on it and it hits the post. Absolute luck for Colombia. Ospina did brilliant there again!
78′ – Excellent footwork by Messi but at the end tackled by Cuadrado. Banega takes the strike and it goes just wide.
77′ – Sub(ARG): Ever Banega comes on as Pastore goes off.
74′ – Sub(COL): Radamel Falcao in. Jackson Martinez off.
73′ – Sub(ARG): Carlos Tevez comes on in place of Aguero.
72′ – Cuadrado goes down but doesn’t get a free kick and Mascherano passes the ball well to Messi but excellent tackle there by the Colombian defender to force Messi to foul on him.
69′ – Messi gets a free kick yards away from the box and it’s defended by Colombia.
67′ – A threatening attack by Colombia and they earn their first corner of the game. Taken by James, Martinez heads it straight into the hands of Romero.
64′ – Zabaleta puts his hand at Arias’ neck but he’s not cautioned. So strange!
61′ – Messi taking a free kick from the right of the box and takes a strike at the goal but it goes over.
58′ – Cuadrado fouling and Argentines demanding another yellow for him but the referee doesn’t give one. And an over expressive person on Argentina bench is sent off.
57′ – Ospina with a great sliding save to stop the ball from going for a corner. What a game he is having!
53′ – A very intelligent ball by Messi to Di Maria up front almost setting him up but Ospina did superb to anticipate it and punch it away. They collided in the process.
The second half kicks off.
- ARG 0-0 COL
Half time: Argentina has been a better team and thoroughly dominating. 6 yellow cards in the half. Flying challenges all around. Referee making some weird decisions for both the teams. Spectacular double save by Ospina and Colombia somehow has managed to defend.
44′ – Good free kick by Messi and Ospina loses the ball twice but Pastore couldn’t hit the target amongst good pressure by Colombian defence.
43′ – Zapata went down sticking out his leg towards Di Maria just outside the box but no foul given yet again.
43′ – A good run by Zuniga who is fouled by Biglia but no foul given.
41′ – Good free kick taken by Di Maria but well punched away by Ospina.
41′ – Cuadrado booked!
40′ – A good chance for Biglia to score. But he strikes the ball wide.
39′ – Messi’s brilliant footwork to pass on to Pastore who passed to Di Maria who put a good ball for Aguero and Zapata knowing that intercepted the ball and luckily for him, the ball went straight to Ospina and he saved it.
37′ – Arias booked for his awful tackle on Messi.
35′ – Aguero fouled by Zapata but no card given while the whole Argentina bench is screaming for one.
34′ – Mascherano goes in the book for his tackle on James.
33′ – Messi fouled ridiculously by Mejia. He was specifically cautioned by the referee to keep control. That was easily have been a second yellow for him.
31′ – Di Maria with a very good run on the left but Cuadrado did very well to dispossess him.
26′ – SAVE! Magnificent stuff by Ospina as some good work by Pastore put Aguero in scoring position. His shot saved by Ospina’s feet on the right of the goal post and it fell for Messi towards the left who headed it but Ospina had run towards the left and punched it out. World class by Ospina. Astonishingly brilliant! That was a clear chance for Argentina.
25′ – Sub(COL): Edwin Cardona in. Teo off.
24′ – Good play by the Argentinians as Messi goes past a defender and passes to Di Maria on the left who puts a decent ball up front for Aguero. Aguero heads it way over.
23′ – Zuniga puts his hand out towards Di Maria while chasing him. Di Maria goes down but referee thinks he goes down too easily.
21′ – Mejia cautioned for his reckless foul on Messi. Mejia never seemed to be going for a foul. Free kick to Argentina in the centre of the box and half line. Free kick taken by Di Maria. Otamendi headed back across the goal but no Argentinian anticipated that.
20′ – A corner kick by taken Di Maria where Aguero fell down by Arias’ tackle and then Messi when down. Both tackles not deemed foul. Aguero argues with the referee and gets himself booked.
18′ – Messi fouled by Caudrado.
16′ – Messi brought down by Zapata as he stuck out his leg just outside the box but no foul given. The referee is really being very weird.
15′ – Free kick taken towards Otamendi who goes down too easily looking for a penalty but it’s not given.
14′ – Aguero fouled by Arias at the right of the box and Messi to take the free kick.
13′ – Di Maria goes for a strike which takes a deflection from Zuniga’s back and a comfortable collection for Ospina.
12′ – James Rodriguez booked as he argued about a throw in with the referee. Bizarre!
10′ – Bad touch by Teo and Messi runs ahead with the ball and passed the ball to Di Maria who looked to pass it back to Messi but defended by Colombia.
7′ – Argentina get the first corner of the game out of Ospina punch out. Di Maria takes it. Rojo gets a free header but he blasts it over.
6′ – Brilliant ball by Angel Di Maria to Pastore near to the goal post who tries to net it. Ospina punched it out.
2′ – Ibarbo fouled by Zabaleta.
The game is kicked off by Argentina.
Argentina Starting XI: Sergio Romero, Ezequiel Garay, Pablo Zabaleta, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Rojo, Javier Pastore, Javier Mascherano, Lucas Biglia, Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria.
Colombia Starting XI: David Ospina, Santiago Arias, Cristian Zapata, Jeison Murillo, Juan Zuniga, Alexander Mejia, Victor Ibarbo, Juan Cuadrado, James Rodriguez, Teofilo Gutierrez, Jackson Martinez.
The big match between the favourites, Argentina and unexpectedly disappointing, Colombia.
While Argentina has not lost a single game in this competition till now, Colombia has crawled it’s way up till here.
Argentina goes into the game as the favourite to win and Colombia will want to create a major upset.
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