Pekerman hails ´worthy´ winners Colombia

Colombia coach Jose Pekerman feels his side were worthy winners of their Copa America Centenario quarter-final against Peru, despite needing penalties to qualify for the final four.

The likes of Carlos Bacca and James Rodriguez struggled to carve out the necessary openings in a compact Peru defence as the two sides played out a goalless 90 minutes in New Jersey on Friday, with Colombia triumphing 4-2 on penalties.

David Ospina was the hero in the shoot-out as he backed up Colombia’s flawless pens by saving Peru’s third spot-kick.

Pekerman, while believing Colombia deserved to advance, said he felt his team had been weighed with the greater “obligation” to score but felt they lacked the patience to turn promising positions into proper goalscoring opportunities.

“We need the patience to impose the qualities we have. We had the obligation to score, which I perceived was more on Colombia,” he said at a post-game news conference.

“But we kept wanting to do the many good things we had too quickly, not with simplicity on the ball.” 

Colombia await the winner of the quarter-final between defending champions Chile and Mexico.