This Friday, in the preview of the clash between the teams of Argentina and Venezuela on the 17th date of the South American Qualifiers heading to the Qatar 2022 World Cup, there was a special reunion on the pitch of La Bombonera starring Lionel Messi and José Néstor Pékerman.
The captain of the national team and the current coach of Vinotinto crossed paths during the warm-up before the start of the actions and gave each other a friendly greeting with laughter. It is that the Argentine coach knows La Pulga well, it was he who summoned him in 2006 to the World Cup in Germany, the first in the career of the Rosarino who was then 19 years old.
In addition, Pékerman was the one who opened the doors to Messi of the senior team on August 17, 2005, in Budapest, when the young Barcelona footballer played just 92 seconds and was expelled for having slapped Hungarian Vilmos Vanczák in the face. In that meeting he started none other than Lionel Scaloni in the defense.
Messi and the current coach of Venezuela greeted each other and crossed some friendly words, a clear gesture that the relationship between them is good, despite the fact that the last image that is remembered of them together is that of Leo sitting on the bench of the substitutes in the duel against Germany for the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup. For that match, the coach chose to leave him on the bench and bet on Julio Cruz.
That episode did not generate grudges. Even in 2009, after winning the Golden Ball, the then Barcelona star named it in her speech: “To Pékerman, whom I will always thank for giving me the opportunity to debut in a World Cup”. In that contest, the Rosarino scored a goal against Serbia and Montenegro in the 6-0 rout of the second round of the group stage.
At the start of this new stage, Pékerman debuted with a 4-1 home win against Venezuela and then fell for the same result against Uruguay in Montevideo. Its main objective is to qualify for the 2026 World Cup to be held in Canada, the United States and Mexico, something that never happened in the history of Vinotinto.
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