Colombia coach Jose Pekerman feels his side was a worthy winner of its Copa America Centenario quarterfinal against Peru, despite needing penalties to qualify for the final four.

The likes of Carlos Bacca and James Rodriguez struggled to carve out the necessary openings in a compact Peru defense as the two sides played out a goalless 90 minutes in New Jersey on Friday, with Colombia triumphing 4-2 on penalties.

David Ospina was the hero in the shootout as he backed up Colombia's flawless pens by saving Peru's third spot kick.

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Pekerman, while believing Colombia deserved to advance, said he felt his team had been weighed with the greater "obligation" to score but felt it lacked the patience to turn promising positions into proper goal-scoring opportunities.

"We need the patience to impose the qualities we have. We had the obligation to score, which I perceived was more on Colombia," he said at a post-game news conference.

"But we kept wanting to do the many good things we had too quickly, not with simplicity on the ball." 

Colombia awaits the winner of the quarterfinal between defending champion Chile and Mexico.