CHICAGO -- Colombia coach Jose Pekerman believes there is no favorite in Wednesday's Copa America Centenario at Soldier Field against Chile, despite La Roja demolishing Mexico 7-0 in the quarterfinal and Los Cafeteros only scraping past Peru on penalties.
"I never make predictions about the favorite, we know what football is like," said Pekerman in Tuesday's pregame news conference. "You have to look at the history, these games are equal. There isn't one team that dominates because of the quality and competitiveness of the players."
That no Pekerman side has lost against Chile in the last 16 years has been widely bandied around by the press of both countries, but the Argentine laughed it off and said that was down to his players, rather than any spell he has over La Roja.
"Sometimes these are coincidences," Pekerman said stated, before stressing how difficult it will be to extend that particular statistic further. "We're playing the champion of America, one of the best generations in Chilean football and one that has years working collectively."
There are doubts about the involvement of AC Milan striker Carlos Bacca and Farid Diaz on the Colombian side due to injury, with a late decision to be made about their status and availability. And there is a suggestion in the Colombian press that Pekerman could change from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3 with three predominantly holding midfielders to try to reduce the space for Chile to create the kind of havoc it did against Mexico.
"With Chile you have to be careful with everything, it's a team that works a lot, is flexible," said the former Argentina coach when answering a question on whether he would make the change. "You look at [Eduardo] Vargas and Alexis [Sanchez], but [Edson] Puch works well, (as do) the full-backs, the midfield and everything they achieve is with collective effort."
Pekerman also highlighted the importance of the match for a Colombia side in transition, stating that through important semifinals like the one against Chile his team can advance "months or even years" of development.
Chile will be without inspirational captain Arturo Vidal, who is suspended for the clash and there are still major concerns over the fitness of holding midfielder Marcelo Diaz, as well as lesser ones about Alexis Sanchez. The primary options to replace Vidal and possibly Diaz in central midfield are Celta Vigo's Pablo Hernandez or Francisco Silva, although coach Juan Antonio Pizzi also has the option of moving full-back Mauricio Isla into the center and also mentioned Fabian Orellana.
"There aren't many with Vidal's characteristics," said Pizzi, in which he also lauded Sanchez's important role. "We aren't looking for something equal. We have to make the most of the virtues of whoever comes in, but not try to copy Vidal."
The Chile coach suggested the historic victory over Mexico is now in the past and stressed the team must put the result to the back of their mind to confront a difficult Colombia team. The semifinal pits FIFA's third-ranked team Colombia against fifth-placed Chile, with the winner facing Argentina on Sunday in MetLife Stadium.