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 Former Argentina coach Pekerman gave Messi his international debut
10 years ago and took him to his first World Cup finals in Germany
in 2006.
The final image of the pair at the tournament had Messi sitting head
bowed on the bench as Pekerman overlooked him when making
substitutions and the team lost to hosts Germany in a shootout
following a 1-1 draw after extra time in the quarter-finals.
Messi will be looking to ensure it is Pekerman left staring at the
ground at the end of Friday’s match at Vina del Mar with 2014 World
Cup runners-up Argentina progressing to the semi-finals.
But, with 100 caps under his belt, Messi has nothing but praise and
gratitude toward Pekerman and has often said: “He gave me a lot of
advice that I don’t forget.”
It should be an open match which both Messi and Pekerman will be
looking forward to given the attacking inclinations of both men and
their teams after struggling to overcome defensive tactics from
their group rivals and only shining intermittently.
"Colombia has a game that can favor us… because they play and come
out (of defense) more than the majority of our rivals up to now,”
Argentina winger Angel Di Maria told Reuters.
“I think we’ll have more room to move up front… They have great
players who also need mobility. We’re expecting an end to end
match.”
Pekerman is now working with another classy number 10, James
Rodriguez, top scorer at last year’s World Cup and the man some
believe should have been named best player instead of Messi.
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"We all know they have good players but I think it’s going to be
50-50 because Colombia also play, that’s why it will be a nice
match,” Rodriguez told reporters.
"I think it’s obvious that in these three (group) matches I had
little room, they were tight matches, intense, with a lot of
friction and with little space I can’t play much.”
It will be the countries’ ninth meeting in the tournament, known as
the South American Championship until its revamp in the late 1980s,
with Argentina coming out on top in six.
In two previous Copa America clashes in Chile, Argentina won 9-1 in
1945 in the teams’ first ever meeting and 2-1 in 1991 when they won
their 13th and penultimate title.
(Reporting by Santiago Torres and Camila Ramirez; Writing by Rex
Gowar, editing by Ed Osmond)
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