COPA DE AMERICA: COLOMBIA VS. ARGENTINA

All the stress was on the Argentines as they came out to meet the Colombian Copa de Oro squad in Santa Fe, Argentina at the Estinaslao Lopez stadium. As the host nation, Argentina was going to have to show considerably more effervescence than it had recently shown. Mediocre showings are not Argentina's strong suite, and most of the time they come undone by themselves.

The Argentine dominated from early on, moving the ball laterally and keeping control. The Colombians buzzed around the midfield like curious bees, while the Argentine squad poked it's head in places where it doesn't belong. For example, Colombia's first foray into Argentine territory came almost five minutes into the match.

Aguilar was the first player to make it personal, sliding cleats first into Messi a little after the sixth minute. This only served to ignite the Argentines and makes it's potent naptha take flame. But, then the Argentines started throwing themselves on the floor and taking every evasive maneuver like some personal affront. And this dragged on for several minutes until in the 17th minute, Negron took a penalty shot that skimmed the pole.

And then in the 20th minutes Ramos take it to the front door of the goalie and was not more successful because of a miscalculation on his part, and the tide seemed to be shifting a little. By the 25th minute the sense of touch had returned to the match, but Argentina was showing signs of the Chilean stoppage exhibited yesterday in the match against Mexico.

The game was so physical that in certain spots the match seemed dragged down and muddled by the intense physical showing. In the 26th minute, Colombia's Moreno took it, again, to the front door and was stopped only by his inaccuracy. By the 40th minutes it was getting more and more customary for Colombia to be taking shots on goal.

The 60th minutes did not see much difference. If anything, on the Argentine side, Aguero was put in and La Velce was put on the bench. It got to the point that Cantor and his sidekick were already talking about the advantage for Colombia if it tied. And withing seconds of Aguero coming in, Argentina was already looking a little more lethal. It makes one wonder why Batista would have taken so long to put Aguero in.

In the 65th minute, Burdisso gets a bloody noes and Aguilar almost scores again, but no dice. The game ended in a 0-0 score which benefits Colombia which scored two against Costa Rica, while Argentina just had 1 goal from another tie with Bolivia. Lackluster, completely lackluster match.