Colombia 0 Argentina 0: South American rivals play out draw

Argentina was last beaten by Colombia in 2007, and the sides drew 0-0 on Tuesday.

Colombia's Wilmar Barrios in action against Argentina.

Argentina maintained its long unbeaten run against Colombia after a 0-0 friendly draw between the nations in New Jersey.

Despite an entertaining first half at MetLife Stadium, the two understrength South American sides were unable to find a breakthrough.

Argentina — without Lionel Messi — was perhaps the better side for the most part, but Colombia also had its chances.

But under interim coaches Lionel Scaloni and Arturo Reyes, the teams played out a draw, leaving Colombia without a win against Argentina since 2007.

Argentina looked the more dangerous side in the opening stages, and Exequiel Palacios forced a good save from David Ospina in the seventh minute.

Scaloni's side continued to search for an opener and Mauro Icardi was the next to be denied by Ospina, who kept out the Inter forward after he was played through by Nicolas Tagliafico.

Argentina was almost punished for those missed chances approaching the half-hour mark, Radamel Falcao's low strike pushed away by Franco Armani.

Colombia grew into the encounter as the half wore on and while it was a mostly open first 45 minutes, the teams headed into the break level.

Armani was needed to keep Argentina level just after half-time, the goalkeeper diving to his left to deny a powerful strike from Luis Muriel.

However, despite both teams pushing for a winner amid a flurry of substitutions, they struggled to create clear-cut chances.