Colombia deservedly claimed their place in the World Cup's round of 16 as an early Jhon Arias goal secured a 1-0 victory over Ghana in Kansas City, Missouri.

Palmeiras midfielder Arias side-footed into the bottom-right corner after just 14 minutes, as Nestor Lorenzo's team penned a cautious Ghana side back for long periods of Friday's last-32 tie.  

Both the offside flag and a sprawling stop from Lawrence Ati Zigi denied the excellent Luis Diaz an insurance goal, but Colombia were ultimately untroubled in defence and will now face Switzerland for a quarter-final spot on Tuesday.

Both teams lost players to injury within the opening 13 minutes, with Colombia's Jhon Cordoba exiting the action before Ghana's Marvin Senaya hobbled off almost in tears.

But the disrupted nature of the opening exchanges did not affect Colombia, who went ahead shortly afterwards. Substitute Luis Suarez saw his first attempt at a right-wing cross blocked by Gideon Mensah, but his second delivery evaded Diaz before Arias arrived to steer it home at the far post.

A delicate, dinked pass from James Rodriguez led to Diaz rifling into the side netting, while Suarez sent a header wide and Johan Mojica saw a similar effort clawed away brilliantly by Ati Zigi, as Ghana remained within one goal at the interval.

Ati Zigi was called into action on two more occasions at the start of the second half, thwarting Gustavo Puerta and Diaz either side of the Bayern Munich man seeing a sliding finish disallowed for offside.

Ghana were limited to a series of half-hearted forays on the counter, one of which saw Antoine Semenyo fire across the goalmouth with none of his team-mates gambling, with Colombia looking far more likely to add a second goal.

Juan Fernando Quintero went close with a dipping effort from 25 yards out and Ati Zigi blocked Davinson Sanchez's header, and Ghana never truly threatened to force extra time.

Colombia see off spirited but limited Ghana

Colombia justified their status as World Cup dark horses by edging out Portugal to top Group K, and they sent out another statement as they claimed their first knockout-stage win at the tournament since beating Uruguay 2-0 in the 2014 round of 16.

Arias' goal – a neat, first-time finish after being left unmarked at the back post – was the second-earliest goal in Colombia's World Cup history (13:49), after Pablo Armero's fifth-minute strike versus Greece in 2014.

The 28-year-old – who endured six difficult months in the Premier League with Wolves before returning to South America in February – became only the second player to net a World Cup knockout-stage goal while playing in the Brazilian Serie A this century, after Robinho (then of Santos) scored against Chile and the Netherlands for Brazil in 2010. 

Such was Los Cafeteros' dominance throughout the first half, Ghana reached the interval without registering a shot on target for the fourth time in as many games at this tournament – they are the only one of the 48 teams involved to achieve that unwanted feat in each of their matches.

And Carlos Queiroz's side, who were criticised for a perceived negative approach in the group stage, had still not had a shot on target by the time the final whistle was blown. 

Colombia led the shot count by 20 to eight and the expected goals (xG) battle by 2.19 to 0.26, even after withdrawing James at half-time, following a leggy first-half showing from the former Real Madrid man.