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Roger Martinez scored a remarkable goal as Colombia beat Argentina 2-0 in an exciting final Saturday against an opening game of Group B of Copa America.
While Colombia seemed to be overwhelmed by a dangerous-looking Argentina, his replacement, Martinez, controlled a ball on the left wing in the 71st minute before crossing the surface and pounding it in the top corner. to the left. His replacement, Duvan Zapata, ensured that Colombia would win its first win against Argentina since 2007 by leaping close to a Jefferson Lerma center 15 minutes later.
"We knew it had been a long time since we had beaten Argentina and we are delighted," Zapata said after the match. "We are going to enjoy it, the result is excellent, but the tournament continues and there are still many difficult games."
The two groups of fans created a lively atmosphere in the almost full Fonte Nova Arena, giving a boost to tournament organizers after more than 40,000 seats were left empty in the match between Peru and Venezuela earlier during the day.
Colombia looked stronger in the beginning, but Argentina was a different beast when Rodrigo de Paul replaced Ángel Di María immediately after the interval and Captain Lionel Messi was able to find room to cause problems. Messi wasted the best opportunity of the match for Argentina by dismissing a rebound at close range, and the Barcelona striker also performed an exciting solo race in the region, but failed a shot. A fight ensued after Messi was reduced by Colombian Juan Cuadrado in the second half.
A goal from Lionel Scaloni's team seemed imminent, but Colombian James Rodriguez split his defense with a long and impressive pbad to Martinez, who played early in the match after Luis Muriel was injured. Martinez's dazzling attack swept Argentina and, although they came back with two more attempts, they never seemed to score.
"We were good in the first 20 minutes, then we had a bad late half," Scaloni said. "We lost the ball a lot, but in the second half, we were a lot better than Colombia. Then, when we played at our best level, they scored in the counterattack. "
The coach also complained about the condition of the field, calling it "dismal".
Argentina, which won the last of its 14 South American titles in 1993, will face Paraguay in its second match at Belo Horizonte on Wednesday. Colombia, champion of Copa America once in 2001, leads the group B with three points ahead of the meeting of Qatar with Paraguay Sunday. They will then face the Qataris in Sao Paulo, also on Wednesday.
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