Argentina and Paraguay booked their place in the Copa America quarter-finals stage with two thumping Group C victories against Colombia and USA respectively. Argentina outclassed Colombia 4-2 in the Venezuelan city Puerto La Cruz, while Paraguay maintained their impressive goal scoring form, beating USA 3-1. Both teams have six points from two games and automatically go through, while Colombia and USA will have to wait for the best third-place spot. The Argentines survived an early scare when Edixon Perea fired home after 10 minutes, but the referee awarded Argentina a controversial penalty 10 minutes later after a slight challenge on Lionel Messi.
Paraguay also qualified to quarters Top scorer Hernan Crespo made no mistake from the spot with his third goal in two games, but he was taken off injured later and Argentina could lose him for the rest of the tournament. Juan Roman Riquelme grabbed a brace in the 34th and 45th minutes to ensure Argentina's lead. Jaime Castrillon pulled one back for the Colombians, but Crespo's replacement Diego Milito ended the tie with the fourth goal. In Barinos, Paraguay took a 30th minute lead through Edgar Barretto, but US' Ricardo Clark leveled the score five minutes before halftime. However, Oscar Cardozo restored Paraguay's lead 11 minutes after the break, and Salvador Cabanas hit his third goal of the campaign to complete the rout in injury time.
