There are still two weeks before the start of the Argentine league season but Colón and Argentinos Juniors were back to work early in the Copa Sudamericana on Thursday evening. A place in the quarter-finals is at stake and Argentinos took a step towards that with a first leg victory over Colón in Santa Fe.

It may not have been of the highest quality at all times but there was little sign of preseason lethargy with Argentinos goalkeeper Lucas Chaves needing to be alert to race off his line to stop Wilson Moreno and then get down smartly to parry a header by the Colombian.

The only goal came shortly before the break when new signing Santiago Silva headed the ball down to the edge of the penalty area where Matías Romero fired a low shot into the bottom corner.

The experience of Silva and Hauche in attack with the youthful midfield of Romero, Franco Moyano and Fausto Vera is an interesting one and Diego Dabove’s impact in La Paternal is already beginning to show.

Aside from surviving a couple of penalty shouts, Los Bichos held on for the win and will be favourites to finish the job back at the Estadio Diego Armando Maradona next Thursday. Challenging for the Sudamericana still looks a long shot for either side but for Argentinos, the improvements that have been made over the past few months bode well for ensuring Superliga survival this season.

🇦🇷🐞👊 ¡@AAAJoficial pisó fuerte en la ida de octavos de final! pic.twitter.com/l2hxLwWIJ8

— CONMEBOL Sudamericana (@Sudamericana) July 12, 2019