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Argentina manager Tata Martino believes his side may benefit from a number of injuries and suspensions in the Colombia squad ahead of their quarter final clash in the Copa America, tonight.
Martinoa s outfit face Jose P kermana s Colombia side in Vina del Mar in the quarter finals, knowing they will not come up against Carlos Bacca, Carlos Sanchez and Edwin Valencia due to injury and suspension.
While Colombia manager Jose Pekerman claimed on Thursday that his squad is strong enough to cope with those losses, Martino says the loss of midfield duo SA?nchez and Valencia could be pivotal.
a The absences of the two midfielders are especially important for Colombia,a the 52-year-old told a pre-match press conference.
a I dona t know if they have players to replace them in the same way. It is clear that one of the two to come in will be Alexander Mejia, but even with differences in personnel their pattern will be more or less familiar.
a But we dona t need to worry about the opponents. We do worry about the referees. The best referees are here at the Copa Am rica but we need them to act in such a way.a
Martinoa s comment on referees was a reaction to the ill tempered first quarter-final between Chile and Uruguay that saw the controversial sending-off of Edinson Cavani after a clash with Gonzalo Jara
a In that match we saw a couple of incidents and a number of refereeing errors,” said Martino. “It is very important to review what happened to Cavani.”
“You often try to take advantage of situations, but only within certain limits. What happened on Wednesday should not have happened.”
a It was also a game full of simulation and hard fouls. What happened was very regrettable.a