Wednesday, July 19, 2006

PEKERMAN quits Argentina



It is finally official, José Néstor PEKERMAN have decided to resign as Argentina manager after a little less than 2 years in charge.

Julio GRONDONA, AFA president, confirmed it late last night and the official announcement will follow soon.

Personally, I think this is a great loss for Argentina as despite failing to make the right substitutions at the right time during the World Cup, JOSE did a great job all of the time he's been involved with the AFA and was a key figure for the developement of many of the great talents we have in our team today.

The succession won't be easy and it'll start to take shape this weekend when the big bosses will meet in the AFA and start discussing who's going to replace PEKERMAN.

See below (in another post) to get a list of the main candidates.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's a real shame that pekerman made those fatal mistakes against germany... i have to agree that pekerman did a lot of amazing things for argentine soccer, from the youth level all the way up to that last crucial match against germany.

that's why it is very difficult to feel good, or bad about his decision to quit.

let's just hope the right person replaces him.

Anonymous said...

Seba, do you know a saying, which goes: The cemeteries are full of indispensable people? Pekerman is no genius, he certainly proved it during the World Cup. There are many capable coaches in Argnetina and they deserve to have their own chance to work with the national team. Pekerman had his chances and he blew it. That is a fact. Why on earth should he be given more? In life - and especially in football - people have their time and they have to make the best out of it. Then, new people come, with new ideas. There's nothing wrong with it... I'm very surprised that you defend Pekerman so much and would like him to continue. If he was capable to achieve great things, there would never be a better opportunity than in Germany. We all saw how it finished. Argentina had the best team out there but returned home with nothing. The coach has to take full responsibility because it was not the players who disappointed. It was Pekerman who disappointed. He might have prepared the team very well before the matches, but when the matches actually started, the players could not count on the coach to help them. And in football, when you are a coach, you work not only before the match, but you have to be there during the match, and after it finishes. When a person can combine these three qualities, then we have a great coach. Pekerman is not, with all due respect. And credit to him that he decided to leave and kept his word. He did his best, but Argentina needs more. Hope the next coach can deliver.

Anonymous said...

Hi Seba,
It is sad to see Pekerman leave, only he himself will know the real reason for leaving.

Out of the potential candidates, I like Ramon Diaz & Alfio Basile because of the way they like their teams to play; free flowing attacking football. Plus the new coach must have the ruthlessness to drop big names if they don't perform.

Vamos Argentina!!

Ingi

Seba said...

Sebastian, you have a point, but I think the main reason why I wanted PEKERMAN to stay is because I'm a little scared about the transition process which will start right now and I was confident (if he stayed) he would have correct those errors he had in the past and learn from them.

Now it looks like BASILE will be our next manager and I can't say I don't like him because he have always been my favourite.

My fear was to have someone like BIANCHI or an unproven manager (BURRUCHAGA, MARADONA, etc) instead of a serious worker and a good manager like PEKERMAN.

Anonymous said...

Good point Sebastian. Though like seba i think it was the fear of the unknown that made us want pekerman to stay. At least we 'knew ' that there would be an emphasis on attractive football and youth.
Now with Basile being appointed even though he has done well at Boca it remains to be seen how he will work with prodigies like tevez and messi.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Sebastian.

My point is that Pekerman did a great job but he could have easily made this team a lot better, especially in the defense line. He depended waaaay too much on the players he coached at youth level, and dropped experienced players ruthlessly.

As it turned out, this is a defensive world cup and this is a world cup that experience counted more than young talents. Too late.

Obviously if Pekerman wanted to continue he could. But I do think it is a good idea Arg has a new coach and begin a new era.

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