Argentina coach Jose Pekerman announced he was standing down from the post shortly after the penalties loss to Germany in the World Cup quarterfinals on Friday.
The 56-year-old former youth-team coach — who won three world Under-20 titles — was promoted to the senior national side two years ago, replacing Marcelo Bielsa, who was in charge of Argentina at the last World Cup.
His side went down 4-2 on penalties to Germany after the game had finished tied 1-1 at extra-time.
”It is over, the chapter is closed,” said Pekerman, who opted to leave out of the squad several experienced campaigners such as Inter Milan’s Javier Zanetti.
”I am not going to carry on. I can leave with my head held high. I have always believed in the players and they have not let me down.
”They have always done what was necessary to attain their objective, to the last penalty.”
Pekerman, who had turned down the stewardship of the national side in 1998, won the three Under-20 titles in 1995, 1997 and 2001 and the father of two called his three dogs after them — Qatar, Malaysia and Argentina.
German assistant coach Joachim Low paid tribute to Pekerman, who he sees as a kindred spirit of German counterpart Jurgen Klinsmann, both men having pushed the cause of a raft of young players at this World Cup.
”Pekerman is a really class act, he’s an exceptional coach who has brought forward so many young talents from youth level to turn them into world-class performers. He has put in years of work.
”I can’t comment on his tactics today or the decision to leave Messi on the bench — we were even happier to see Javier Saviola benched also. But they had plenty of other aces up their sleeve and of course they had to replace the goalkeeper, which maybe altered their game plan a little.” — Sapa-AFP