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The Argentine coach Jose Pekerman was angry about the referee’s decisions throughout the match. The American Mark Geiger was officiating the match and he punished the Colombians with 6 yellow cards.
Pekerman has criticized Geiger’s officiating because it interrupted the game too much and therefore, the match lacked dynamism. Geiger really had a difficult job yesterday because all the players seemed nervous and he didn’t handle the situation the best way possible.
He criticized the referee heavily:
” It was very hard to play this game knowing that the referee will always grab his whistle. He continuously interrupted the game. Those situations like the penalty awarded by the referee can be seen so many times in games. Those are situations that can decide matches and all referees should have the same standpoint. I’m not saying that England has a bad team, but that penalty looked soft to me. “
” Too many penalties are awarded in this tournament, players push each other and fall in the box. The football players are involved in something which interrupts the football. You can signal a foul but when they are so many fouls you must find the balance so the game can be played. “
This is what he said about the elimination:
” I think that it is very difficult to accept that we are eliminated after penalties yet again. Our team has progressed so much and deserved a little bit of luck. I think that we showed that we wanted the win more and I am very sad because the players deserved to go to the quarterfinals “
Pekerman’s Colombia has already been eliminated once after a penalty shootout. That happened in the 2015 Copa America against Argentina. Additionally, Pekerman’s Argentina in 2006 was also eliminated by penalties. The only time he had luck in a penalty shootout was in 2016 Centenario Copa America when Colombia eliminated USA.
When he was asked whether he will continue being Colombia’s coach he answered:
” I won’t talk about the future, I am emotional about this elimination because we worked so much. “
Pekerman is Colombia’s coach since 2012 and has managed to qualify to the World Cup twice in a row.
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