.jpg) Pékerman asColombia manager in 2016 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | José Néstor Pékerman Krimen[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1949-09-03)3 September 1949 (age 76) | ||
| Place of birth | Villa Domínguez, Argentina | ||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Argentinos Juniors | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1970–1974 | Argentinos Juniors | 134 | (12) |
| 1974–1977 | Independiente Medellín | 101 | (15) |
| Total | 235 | (27) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1981–1982 | Chacarita Juniors (youth) | ||
| 1982–1992 | Argentinos Juniors (youth) | ||
| 1992–1994 | Colo-Colo (youth) | ||
| 1994–2001 | Argentina U20 | ||
| 2004–2006 | Argentina | ||
| 2007–2008 | Toluca | ||
| 2009 | Tigres UANL | ||
| 2012–2018 | Colombia | ||
| 2021–2023 | Venezuela | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
José Néstor Pékerman Krimen (Spanish pronunciation:[xoˈseˈpekerman]; born 3 September 1949) is an Argentine-Colombian professionalfootball coach. His last team managed was theVenezuela national team. As a youth level coach for Argentina, he won theFIFA World Youth Championship three times, and the U20South American Youth Championship twice. He coached theArgentina national football team in the2006 FIFA World Cup and became coach of theColombia national team in 2012. He subsequently managed the Colombia national team during the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cups where he led the team to their best result, the quarterfinals, in 2014, their first World Cup qualification after 16 years of absence.
Pékerman's career as a footballer was uneventful. Amidfielder, he played from 1970 to 1974 forArgentinos Juniors scoring 12 goals in 134 matches. He was transferred toIndependiente Medellín, in Colombia, where he scored 15 goals in 101 matches.
His player days ended at age 28 with a serious knee injury. Pékerman supported himself and his family with various odd jobs, including a stint as a taxi driver.[citation needed]
Back in Argentina, Pékerman worked as a youth coach forChacarita Juniors and then occupied the same position withArgentinos Juniors. He then moved to Chile to coachColo-Colo's youth divisions.
In 1994, he was offered to coach the Argentina national under-20 and under-17 sides by theArgentine Football Association. This caused some surprise as hisrésumé did not include any major achievements at this stage. He teamed up withHugo Tocalli and coach Eduardo Urtasun.
Pékerman's success, however, silenced the critics: his under-20 team won theFIFA World Youth Championship three times,1995 (Qatar),1997 (Malaysia), and2001 (Argentina), thus giving the names to his three pet dogs - Qatar, Malaysia and Argentina. The team also won the twoSouth American Youth Championships in 1997 and 1999.
When the national coachDaniel Passarella resigned after the1998 World Cup, Pékerman was offered his position. He declined, assuming instead the position of general manager of all national teams.Marcelo Bielsa was hired as coach on Pékerman's recommendation, and remained in charge until after Argentina's gold medal performance in the 2004 Summer Olympics.
In 2003, Pékerman moved to Spain at the behest of Argentine businessmanDaniel Grinbank, who had acquiredSpanish Second Division sideCD Leganés. After a few months serving as director of football, the project crumbled and Pékerman left Spain.
When Marcelo Bielsa resigned as coach, Pékerman was one of the two candidates for the coaching job, alongsideCarlos Bianchi, who had leftBoca Juniors a few months earlier, and wanted to take asabbatical year away from football.
On 15 September 2004, Pékerman was named coach ofArgentina. The first competition he would participate in with Argentina would be the2005 FIFA Confederations Cup. The team made it to thefinal, which they would lose toBrazil 4–1. Pékerman then led the team to the2006 World Cup. The nation dominated its initial two group stage matches and drew with theNetherlands in the third match, emerging on top of their group on goal difference. TheAlbicelestes then moved on to the round of 16, beatingMexico 2–1after extra time in a comeback victory.
In the quarter-finals, Argentina went ahead 1–0 against hostsGermany, but shortly before the end of the match, Germany equalised through aMiroslav Klose header. Germany would go on to win on penalties, sending Argentina out of the tournament. Pékerman made defensive substitutions, including taking offJuan Román Riquelme forEsteban Cambiasso, and also not giving Lionel Messi an opportunity to play the match. After the loss, announced his resignation.[2]Argentine Football Association (AFA) PresidentJulio Grondona tried to dissuade Pékerman from leaving, but it was later announced thatAlfio Basile, who had previously coached Argentina during the1994 World Cup, would replace him as coach.
On 30 May 2007, Pékerman resumed his coaching career, taking up the position of head coach ofClub Toluca in Mexico, replacing fellow ArgentineAmérico Gallego. At the end of theClausura 2008 tournament, he was replaced byJosé Manuel de la Torre.
On 23 February 2009, Pékerman was appointed as the head coach ofUANL Tigres after the sacking ofManuel Lapuente following a series of bad results. After the end ofClausura 2009, however, he was terminated and replaced byDaniel Guzmán.
In July 2010, it had been reported that Pékerman was in serious talks with theAustralia national team, as well as talks with theJapan national team about taking over the role as senior manager following the resignation of their managers.
In January 2012, Pékerman became the new coach of theColombia national team, replacing ousted coachLeonel Álvarez. Pékerman was the third coach of the Colombia team during the South American World Cup qualifiers; before Álvarez,Hernán Darío Gómez was at the helm. For his first match, a friendly against Mexico, Pékerman impressed, with the Colombians completely taking control of the friendly in an eventual 2–0 victory. In his firstqualifying match for the2014 World Cup, a struggling Colombia managed to win 0–1 overPeru inLima. Pékerman, however, was criticized for using a long-range style of play rather than a close midfield passing control. This resulted in a weak Colombia side that lost toEcuador 1–0 away from home, his first defeat.
In his home debut, Pékerman orchestrated an astonishing comeback as Colombia demolished2011 Copa América championsUruguay 4–0 in the seventh round of World Cup qualifiers. Under his direction, Colombia also won 1–3 away overChile and 2–0 overParaguay at home inBarranquilla. A few days later, Pékerman experimented without many star players such asRadamel Falcao andJames Rodríguez againstCameroon, resulting in a comfortable 3–0 home victory. For the last match of 2012, Colombia drew 2014 World Cup hostsBrazil 1–1 despite missing two of the squad's star players.
In the opening match of 2013, Pékerman experimented yet again, this time against theGuatemala side; he used only substitutes in a 4–1 victory, opting not to deploy senior stars, including Radamel Falcao. During the next round of qualifiers, Pékerman continued with the promising 4–2–2–2 formation that facilitated Colombia's comfortable defeat ofBolivia in a 5–0 home victory. Pékerman, however, decided to use a different formation in the match, 4–4–1–1, which led to a shocking 1–0 away loss to neighboursVenezuela. He was heavily criticized for experimenting with his side's formation, a loss that took the nation from second to third place in the qualifying table. In the match against his home nation Argentina, Pékerman changed the lineup and formation to better "deal" with the South American giants, which led to a hard-fought 0–0 draw. Despite this, Pékerman was again questioned with his lineup choices.[3]
After Colombia qualified for the 2014 World Cup after a 3–3 home draw against Chile, Pékerman expressed his joy for helping Colombia return to the World Cup for the first time in 16 years, considering it to be "one of the greatest joys in his life."[4] Following Colombia's qualification, Pékerman was granted Colombian citizenship fromJuan Manuel Santos, thepresident of Colombia.[5] However, he did not accept it.[6]
Colombia won all three of its group matches (scoring nine goals and conceding only two) and went on to defeat Uruguay in the Round of 16 before losing to the host nation of Brazil in the quarter-finals. In August 2014, Pékerman extended his contract with Colombia until 2018.[7]
For the second consecutive time, Pékerman qualified Colombia for theFIFA World Cup this time for the2018 edition in Russia. Colombia suffered a controversial defeat in their first group stage game against a well-organized and determinedJapan, but then came out much stronger to inflict a 3–0 victory overPoland (effectively knocking them out of the tournament in the process). After beatingSenegal 1–0 in the last game of the group stage, Colombia qualified to the round of 16 as first in their group. After a bitter and contested match, Colombia lost 4–3 on penalties toEngland after a 1–1 draw.[8] In September 2018, Pékerman decided not to renew his contract, and left his position as Colombia manager after six years in charge.[9]
In November 2021, Pékerman became the head coach ofVenezuela.[10] He failed to lead the nation to the World Cup in Qatar, finishing bottom of South American qualifying. On 8 March 2023, theVenezuelan Football Federation (FVF) parted ways with Pekerman. The FVF did not expand on the reasons for the Argentine coach's dismissal.[11]
Pékerman is known for his tactical management style, often selecting the players that fit his style of coaching, regardless of how talented a player is. Pékerman can make controversial selections with line-ups against certain teams. He experimented heavily with the Argentinean youth squads when he was coaching them.
Before the 2006 World Cup began, Pékerman made the controversial decision to drop established defendersJavier Zanetti andWalter Samuel. When Argentina was eliminated by Germany in the quarter-finals, his substitution decision during the match (substitutingJuan Román Riquelme forEsteban Cambaisso in the 72nd minute) caused storms of criticism, as well. Despite the dramatic loss, Pékerman was still hailed by many fans and press as a very effective coach and the "Pékerman Era" is regarded as one that brought a lot of pride to the country.[citation needed] His team lost its temper after the elimination and instigated a huge brawl, which was believed to be a major factor in his resignation.
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Argentina U17 | May 1995 | September 1997 | 23 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 065.22 |
| Argentina U20 | January 1995 | December 2001 | 58 | 42 | 8 | 8 | 072.41 |
| Argentina U23 | September 1999 | February 2000 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 053.33 |
| Argentina | October 2004 | June 2006 | 27 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 051.85 |
| Toluca | August 2007 | May 2008 | 41 | 18 | 14 | 9 | 043.90 |
| Tigres UANL | March 2009 | May 2009 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 010.00 |
| Colombia | February 2012 | August 2018 | 77 | 42 | 20 | 15 | 054.55 |
| Venezuela | November 2021 | March 2023 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 050.00 |
| Total | 261 | 145 | 61 | 55 | 055.56 | ||
Pékerman was born inVilla Domínguez,Entre Ríos. His grandparents settled in the agricultural colonies ofEntre Ríos Province.[21]
Following Colombia's qualification for the 2014 World Cup, Pekerman stated his desire to be a naturalized Colombian, which was granted by PresidentJuan Manuel Santos the following day.[5]
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