Samara: England hold no fear for World Cup last 16 opponents Colombia, said the South American side’s coach Jose Pekerman, who is relishing the prospect of the ‘full on, to-the-death’ knockout phase of the tournament.
Colombia completed the first round with a 1-0 victory Thursday over Senegal that sent them into the last 16 as Group H winners.
While Pekerman was impressed with England’s opening displays in the tournament, he was confident his side could get through to the quarterfinals, where either Sweden or Switzerland would be waiting.
“I definitely think England have what it takes to do well, but it will be a match in which Colombia are going to be confident of playing at a high level and getting a good result,” he told reporters here Friday.
“We know that any team that reaches the last 16 is good, we are talking about the best 16 teams in the world. Obviously England can have a good day or an even better day. England are a young team, have a lot of harmony and you can tell they have a lot of faith in themselves…
“Now a different kind of match is heading our way, these will be completely full-on, to the death matches, win or you are out. These are extreme situations,” added the Argentine.
Pekerman’s side however, had to play the game against Senegal for 60 without the talismanic James Rodriguez, who was substituted in the first half with an injury. The Colombia coach said he was ‘extremely concerned’ about the player’s fitness.
“I want to highlight that all my players played well and at a high level without James,” Pekerman said. “But then these incidents (Rodriguez injury) can give you a very hard time. I am extremely concerned because for the matches up ahead we need him. In case we don’t we have to prepared for every eventuality,” he added.