Colombia vs. Argentina: Score and Reaction from 2018 World Cup Qualifier

Despite missing a number of key attackers through injury, Argentina picked up their first win of 2018 World Cup qualification, beating Colombia 1-0 on Tuesday in Barranquilla, Colombia.

Lucas Biglia provided the lone goal of the game, handing his side three critical points.

Gonzalo Higuain may have been healthy enough to start for Argentina, but coach Gerardo Martino was still without Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and, most importantly, Lionel Messi.

Considering Argentina's issues in the final third going back to the last World Cup cycle, the combined absences of Aguero, Tevez and Messi come at a terrible time. As a result, walking out of Barranquilla with a victory is a great result for Martino.

"We did not get the result we deserved against Brazil considering we dominated the game," he said in an interview with Argentine newspaper Ole earlier in the week (via ESPN FC). "We expect a different game against Colombia and we will try to take control. We know the path we are looking for and our position in the standings does not change our approach."

This wasn't a vintage Argentina performance, but they played very well considering both the number of players out due to injury and Colombia's impressive record when playing in Barranquilla. This is Colombia's first loss in eight matches in the Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Melendez under coach Jose Pekerman, per MisterChip.

After an uninspiring start, Biglia gave Argentina the lead with a tap-in in the 20th minute.

Argentine football journalist Daniel Edwards praised Ever Banega for his role in the team going ahead:

Although Ezequiel Lavezzi was credited with the assist, Colombian defender Cristian Zapata did more than anybody else to set up Biglia after he whiffed on his left-footed clearance on the edge of the six-yard box. That mistake allowed the Lazio midfielder a simple finish for the goal.

South American football journalist Rupert Fryer wondered if Zapata might have been undone by the playing surface:

Zapata deserves a fair share of blame for the goal, but his goalkeeper, David Ospina, did him no favors by first rushing Lavezzi and then failing to deflect the cross out of play or away from danger. By doing so, Ospina left the goal exposed and allowed Argentina to have a numbers advantage.

The first half was otherwise uneventful, as neither team mounted a consistent attack. Colombia and Argentina combined to have eight total shots, seven of which were off target.

Argentine defender Ramiro Funes Mori did his best to try and gift Colombia an equalizer.

In the 36th minute, he attempted to head the ball back to Sergio Romero, only to have Carlos Bacca intercept the ball. Romero brought down Bacca in order to prevent the Colombian attacker from scoring, which could've easily drawn a penalty.

Funes Mori got lucky a minute later after the referee awarded Colombia a corner kick after the Everton man tackled Teofilo Gutierrez in the 18-yard box. Colombian television network Caracol provided a replay of the incident, which shows that Mori never made contact with the ball:

The football gods offered Colombia a bit of a reprieve in the 41st minute after Angel Di Maria spoiled a great chance to put Argentina ahead 2-0.

The second half played out much as the first did, with Colombia enjoying the majority of possession but failing to turn that into any real goalscoring chances.

Argentina's counter-attacking style meant Banega and Javier Mascherano had to do a lot of running in midfield, and Argentine football journalist Sam Kelly wondered if fatigue might start wearing Argentina down the longer the match went on:

Against the run of play, Paulo Dybala nearly put the match out of reach for good in the 90th minute, but the Argentine attacker saw his shot deflected by Ospina and then carom off the left post.

Then, into injury time, Colombia had two great chances to equalize after some miscommunication in the Argentina defense left Romero's goal exposed. Luckily for the two-time World Cup winners, Luis Muriel's shot on goal was blocked, and Jeison Murillo's effort off the rebound sailed high and to the left of goal.

Colombia supporters will argue their team was hard done by the official after Funes Mori's two first-half mistakes, but Los Cafeteros shot themselves in the foot twice leading to Biglia's goal.

Not to mention James Rodriguez was largely silent for all 90 minutes. Argentina adopted a physical style of play in order to disrupt the Real Madrid playmaker that proved extremely effective.

With the win, Argentina climb to fourth in World Cup qualifying. They're unlikely to hold that position since Brazil and Paraguay both have matches later on in the evening and sit just a point back.

At the very least, this gives Martino some much-needed momentum going into what will be a difficult matchup away to Chile in March.

Colombia drop to seventh in the CONMEBOL table, but they're still only a point back of Argentina as well. They're only out of automatic qualification on goal difference.

With 14 qualifying matches left for Argentina and Colombia, they still have a lot of work left in order to secure passage to Russia in 2018.