COPA AMERICA: Rodriguez stars as Colombia beats Argentina to break 12-years record.

James Rodriguez got the best of Lionel Messi in the Copa America on Saturday,as  Colombia won 2-0  over Argentina in the South American tournament.

Rodriguez set up Roger Martinez's opening goal in the second half with a superb long pass across the pitch,before substitute Duvan Zapata scored the late winner to seal the victory that allowing Colombia to end a 12-year winless streak against the Argentines.

Argentina captain Lionel Messi couldn't do enough to spark Argentina, which recorded its first Copa America opening match defeat since 1979.

Both Argentina and Colombia are trying to end title droughts, with the Argentines winless since the 1993 Copa America and the Colombians without a trophy having won the 2001 edition.

Argentina lost the finals of the World Cup in 2014 and the Copa America in 2015 and 2016, where on both occasions it lost in penalty shootouts against fellow South Americans Chile.

Messi and Rodriguez had a mostly quiet match at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador, though Argentina came closest to scoring with a close-range header by Messi that missed just wide in the 66th before Rodriguez helped Colombia take the lead thanks to his great assist for Martinez's 71st-minute opener.

The playmaker had the ball in Colombia's own field before finding Martinez with a superb long pass. The forward picked up the ball and cut toward the middle before firing into the far corner to open the scoring.

Second  half substitute Zapata sealed the victory five minutes after coming  on by force finishing a cross by Jefferson Lerma in the 86th minute.

Argentina striker Sergio Aguero and Colombia veteran Radamel Falcao also had a quiet  evening as they couldn't help their teams break through their opponents' defense in a tense opening match in Group B.

Argentina will be looking  forward to right their wrongs when they play against Paraguay in their  next group  match in Belo Horizonte, while Colombia will face Qatar in Sao Paulo.

Paraguay and Qatar meet in the other Group B match on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro.

Earlier Saturday, Peru was held by 10-man Venezuela to a 0-0 draw in Group A, a result that left both teams two points behind host Brazil, which opened with a 3-0 win over Bolivia on Friday in Sao Paulo.