Jose Pekerman was “proud” of Colombia’s performance against Brazil and James Rodriguez “the symbol of this World Cup.”
Los Cafeteros had won every game before this 2-1 quarter-final defeat in Fortaleza.
Jose Pekerman was “proud” of Colombia’s performance against Brazil and James Rodriguez “the symbol of this World Cup.”
Los Cafeteros had won every game before this 2-1 quarter-final defeat in Fortaleza.
“I am sad because we really did believe. The team always fought hard in this tournament,” Coach Pekerman said in his Press conference.
“Today we were up against a great opponent and the second goal knocked the wind out of our sails.
“What remains is the excellent image we gave of ourselves and of Colombia, because we had a good World Cup.
“James Rodriguez is the symbol of this World Cup and that just makes it even harder that we’ve gone out.”
Rodriguez remains top scorer with six goals in five games, having found the net in every match.
“We had momentum and desire but we couldn’t get through. The tension was very high. We always want to win.
“We knew after their game against Chile that Brazil had learned. There was no doubt their performance would improve.
“Maybe they were looking for the very fast goal and that destabilised us from our usual game.
“We continued to strive for the equalising goal and came close, even with some questionable decisions that could have changed the game.”