Copa America hosts Peru were dumped out of the tournament at the quarter-final stage on Saturday when Argentina beat them 1-0 with a brilliant Carlos Tevez free kick.

Colombia will meet Argentina in Tuesday's semi-final in Lima after two quick goals before halftime, the first from teenager Abel Aguilar, gave them a 2-0 win over rank outsiders Costa Rica in Trujillo.

Also Read Argentina knock out Peru

Tevez, 20, scored his first international goal in the 61st minute, only three minutes after replacing Andres D'Alessandro, to silence a partisan 25,000 crowd in Chiclayo.

Argentina survived despite having captain Roberto Ayala sent off for a second bookable offence in the 82nd minute.

Coach Marcelo Bielsa admitted he had not been sure whether bringing Tevez on was the best move.

"When I made the change, I had my doubts," he said. "I thought the team was in its best part of the game and I wasn't sure it was in our best interests -- but I went ahead and did it anyway."

Argentina had slightly the better of the first half and just about deserved their win in a rough and bad-tempered game.

Paraguayan referee Carlos Amarilla, who always likes to let the game flow, overlooked a number of tackles which would have been judged fouls by most other referees.

Peru sorely missed Bayern Munich striker Claudio Pizarro, who is out of the tournament with a head injury, and teenager Jefferson Farfan, who was suspended. Andres Mendoza was again frustrated as he completed his 11th international without scoring.

UNMISSABLE CHANCE

Peru's best spell came immediately after the goal when Nolberto Solano crashed a free kick against the crossbar and Roberto Palacios side-footed wide a seemingly unmissable chance.

Ayala had been living dangerously after being booked in the first half, escaping even after a bodycheck which prevented Solano from having a clean run on goal, and was finally dismissed for a foul on Jorge Soto.

Peru coach Paulo Autuori again skipped the media conference despite the possibility of adding to the $2,000 fine he has already received for doing the same after earlier games.

His assistant Victor Zegarra said: "Our only problem was that we didn't score."

Colombia's match was evenly balanced until the 41st minute when 19-year-old Aguilar rifled home Elkin Murillo's cross for his second goal in consecutive games.

Tressor Moreno effectively finished the match as a contest when he won and converted a penalty two minutes into first-half injury time after being fouled by goalkeeper Ricardo Gonzalez.

The other two quarter-finals will be played on Sunday when Paraguay face Uruguay in Tacna and Brazil play Mexico in Piura. The two winners meet in the second semi-final in Lima on Wednesday.

Uruguay have enjoyed a revival at the Copa after three dismal performances in the World Cup qualifiers but coach Jorge Fossati still says his team are the least likely of the quarter-finalists to win the title.

"In reality, there are seven or eight candidates in front of us," he said.

"And we can't complain if nobody remembers us because our last performances in the World Cup qualifiers were terrible."