It went down to the wire, but Argentina remained alive in the Copa America after beating Colombia 5-4 on penalties.

Argentina was the favorite to win the game possessing superstar talents like Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria against a Colombian side that was missing key defensive midfielders Carlos Sanchez and Edwin Valencia. Despite Argentina's clear advantage, the game ended 0-0 after 90 minutes and required more than five shooters to decide the penalty shootout.

Here are the major takeaways from the game.

Argentina's Lack of Finishing Is Concerning

It was a rather eventful game -- at least for Argentina, which finished with a whopping 16 shots on goal in the game and had 62 percent of possession. And yet the score remained 0-0 after 90 minutes.

It is becoming a rather common theme in this tournament with the team able to create glorious scoring chances only to falter time and again to put games away.

Of course, credit is due to David Ospina who singlehandedly carried Colombia to penalties, but Argentina simply did not take advantage of a plethora of open field opportunities and a number of Colombian gaffes out of the back. That Argentina failed to even try Ospina from long range for most of the game was also an issue for a team that had the game in its pocket and instead put itself in a position to lose it.

Argentina also failed to capitalized on Colombia's rough housing and quickly mounting yellow cards. After 45 minutes, the Cafeteros had four yellows and Argentina did little to try and coax more out of their rivals.

The penalty kicks were another example of Argentina's poor finishing as Lucas Biglia had the game on his foot and missed wide. Ever Banega did the same with a chance to win it and it wasn't until Tevez finally connected that Argentina finally won.

All that said, Argentina deserved to win this game and looks like a team ready to explode offensively. Not all of the lack of finishing in the past few games has been a result of poor play or a lack of bite. Some little luck in their favor and Argentina could be blowing out a team or two.

Colombia's Lack of Identity Is More Concerning

The team that captured the imagination of the world in the 2014 FIFA World Cup is no longer existent. Maybe that team was just a flash in the pan.

Jose Pekerman got rid of Falcao but retained the 4-2-2-2 formation with Jackson Martinez and Teofilo Gutierrez. Twenty-five minutes in he changed his formation to a 4-2-3-1 to create more stability in the midfield. It worked, but marginally.

The deeper issue was that despite its talent, the Colombians looked lost with the ball on their feet. Passes out of the back went awry and the team was lucky if it managed five consecutive passes in one play.

The counter attack had some flashes in the second half, but for the most part this team looked unsettled when pressured by Argentina and continually gave the ball right back.

Colombia had a grand total of one shot on goal in the entire game, lost 17 aerial balls (they looked like they would have gotten picked apart at every corner kick), had one corner (from which their only scoring chance came) and were picking up cards through undisciplined acts early on. One might say that Colombia was lucky not to get anyone sent off with their continually chippy play. The team probably deserved it when Cristian Zapata swiped at Sergio Aguero's head.

Carlos Sanchez and Valencia were surely missing and they are the ones to connect the team's defense to its offense, but even when they were around Colombia lacked offense jump. This issue was not just isolated to this game; Colombia had this problem the entire tournament. The fact that the team scored one goal in the four games tells the whole story.

Pekerman or his likely replacement has a huge task on his hands. Otherwise Colombia will not be contending for the World Cup in 2018.

Messi has a strong game

Many would claim that a great game from Messi is two goals and an assist. On Barcelona that is likely the expectation, but on Argentina Messi's role is more withdrawn; he is more of a creator than a finisher.

He was creating a plethora of chances and could have finished if Ospina had not put up an otherworldly save. Messi actually had five shots on goal, 11 dribbles, two key passes and gave Colombia's defense one headache after another.

Ospina had a better game

Ospina was undeniably the player of the game and the reason Colombia had a chance to win in penalties. He made two amazing stops on Messi and Aguero in one sequence before making a miraculous tip on a header that rebounded off the post and then went away from goal.

Ospina also made a reaction stop on a Cristian Zapata deflection that would have been an own-goal and made a smart move to kick away a sure chance for Angel Di Maria. This was a tremendous performance from the Arsenal goalie that likely opened up a plethora of new options for himself on other clubs.