José Pekerman

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José Pekerman
José Pekerman
José Pekerman
Personal information
Full name José Néstor Pekerman
Date of birth September 3, 1949 (age 57)
Place of birth Gualeguay, Entre Rios Province, Argentina
Height 173 cm (5'8")
Nickname None
Position Midfielder Right
Club information
Current club Not Yet (Coach)
Youth clubs
Age of 21 Argentinos Juniors
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1970-1974
1974-77		 Argentinos Juniors
Independiente Medellín		 134 (12)
101 (15)
National team**
 ? Argentina  ? (?)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
** National team caps and goals correct
as of 25 November 2006.

José Néstor Pekerman (born September 3, 1949) is an Argentine football coach, who recently coached the Argentina national football team. He is arguably the all-time most successful football coach of young teams, having won the FIFA World Youth Championship three times (1995, 1997 and 2001), and the South American Youth Championship (U20) twice (1997 and 1999). He is currently being linked to be the next U.S. National Soccer Team Coach.

Contents

[edit] Career as a player

Pekerman's career as a footballer was uneventful. A midfielder, he played from 1970 to 1974 for Argentinos Juniors scoring 12 goals in 134 matches. He was transferred to Independiente Medellín, in Colombia, where he scored 15 goals in 101 matches.

His career as a player ended at age 28 with a heavy knee injury. Pekerman was then forced to support himself and his family with various odd jobs for years, including a stint as a taxi driver.

[edit] Coaching career

Back in Argentina, he worked as a youth coach for Chacarita Juniors and then occupied the same position with Argentinos Juniors. He then moved to Chile to coach Colo-Colo's youth divisions.

In 1994, he was offered to coach the Argentinian national under-20 and under-17 sides by the Argentine Football Association. This caused some surprise as his résumé did not include any major achievements at this stage. He teamed up with Hugo Tocalli and coach Eduardo Urtasun.

Pekerman's success, however, silenced the critics: his under-20 team won the FIFA World Youth Championship three times, 1995 (Qatar), 1997 (Malaysia), and 2001 (Argentina), thus giving the names to his three pet dogs - Qatar, Malaysia and Argentina. The team also won the two South American Youth Championships in 1997 and 1999.

When the national coach Daniel Passarella resigned after the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Pekerman was reportedly offered his position; instead, he assumed the position of General Manager of all the national teams and recommended Marcelo Bielsa as coach. Bielsa remained in charge until after Argentina's gold medal performance in the 2004 Summer Olympics.

In 2003 Pekerman moved to Spain at the behest of Argentine businessman Daniel Grinbank, who had acquired Spanish Second Division side Club Deportivo Leganés. After a few months as Director of Football, the project crumbled, and Pekerman left Spain.

After Bielsa's resignation, Pekerman was one of the two candidates for the job of Argentine National Team coach, alongside Carlos Bianchi, who had left Boca Juniors a few months earlier, and wanted to take a sabbatical year away from football.

[edit] World Cup 2006

On September 15, 2004, Pekerman was named coach of the Argentina national football team, which qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. They dominated its initial Group Stage matches and drew with the Netherlands, emerging on top of their group on goals difference. The Albicelestes moved on to the knockout round, beating Mexico 2-1 in a comeback victory.

In the quarterfinals however, Argentina lost to Germany via penalty kicks 4-2. Controversy surrounded Pekerman's decision to bench playmaker Juan Román Riquelme after gaining a 1-0 lead at the second half, and following it by unexpectedly substituting Hernán Crespo with Julio Cruz instead of fielding in strikers Javier Saviola or Lionel Messi.

After the loss, Pekerman announced his resignation to the resistance of the AFA as Argentine national football coach. AFA boss Julio Grondona tried to dissuade Pekerman from leaving with no avail. It was later announced that Alfio Basile, who coached Argentina during the 1994 FIFA World Cup, would replace him as coach.

[edit] Legacy

Before world cup began, Pekerman made controversial decisions of dropping veteran defenders Javier Zanetti and Walter Samuel. When Argentina was eliminated by Germany in the quarterfinal, his substitution decision caused storms of criticism, as well. Despite the dramatic loss, Pekerman was still hailed by many fans and press as a very effective coach and the "Pekerman Era" is regarded as one that brought a lot of pride to the country. His team lost its temper after the elimination and started a buge brawl, which was believed to be one of the major factors that caused his resignation.

Below is a summary of Pekerman's coaching career through the years:

[edit] Personal life

Pekerman is married and has two daughters. He claims to be a distant relative of actor Gregory Peck.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dell'Apa, Frank (Oct. 11, 2006). U.S. wish list remains a guessing game. ESPN Soccernet. Retrieved on 2006-10-11.

[edit] External links

Argentina Argentina squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists Argentina

1 Abbondanzieri | 2 Ayala | 3 Sorín | 4 Coloccini | 5 Cambiasso | 6 Heinze | 7 Saviola | 8 Mascherano | 9 Crespo | 10 Riquelme | 11 Tévez | 12 Franco | 13 Scaloni | 14 Palacio | 15 Milito | 16 Aimar | 17 Cufré | 18 Rodríguez | 19 Messi | 20 Cruz | 21 Burdisso | 22 González | 23 Ustari | Coach: Pekerman
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