Pekerman sabotaged his own side

Editor's note: An interesting account of the Argentina-Germany match.
By Paul Doyle in Guardian
If ever there was a case of a manager sabotaging his own side, it occurred during the Argentina-Germany quarter-final in Berlin this afternoon.
Argentina were manifestly the superior team, yet after they finally edged ahead thanks to a fine Roberto Ajala header in the 49th minute, manager Jose Pekerman pressed the self-destruct button, making two absurd substitutions to surrender the initiative to the hosts, who, being Germany, went on to win on penalties.
Having been forced to use his first substitution to bring on reserve goalkeeper Leonardo Franco for the injured Roberto Abbondanzieri, Pekerman elected to use the second to haul off playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme in the 72nd minute. Riquelme hadn't been his dominant self so taking him off was by no means nonsensical - but replacing him with efficient enforcer Esteban Cambiasso rather than the infinitely more inventive and assertive Lionel Messi or Pablo Aimar was negative to the point of being suicidal.
A second goal would have killed Germany: instead, Argentina began to cower in fear of a comeback, an attitude that acted as a kiss of life to the Germans. That blunder was compounded by the Pekerman's third and final substitution, which came in the 79th minute. Quite why Pekerman felt the need to replace ace goleador Hernan Crespo is a mystery, but nowhere near as incomprehensible as his decision to throw on the lumbering Julio Cruz rather than Messi or Javier Saviola.
Cruz doesn't make the nifty runs that Crespo or Saviola do, can't dribble past players, isn't an especially proficient finisher and, basically, was the worst of the options available to the manager and possibly the most misguided substitution since England's 2-1 defeat by France in Euro 2004, during which Sven Goran Eriksson replaced Wayne Rooney with Emile Heskey.
It was obvious that Germany were going to pile forward in search of an equaliser and though they're not particularly incisive, a goal from a free-kick or a long shot was always possible.
As it turned out, in the 80th minute Germany managed to prise Argentina open in a different way, Ballack clipping in a neat ball from the left, which Lukas Podolski flicked towards the far post, where Miroslav Klose headed it expertly into the bottom corner.
Suddenly extra-time looked likely: but how were Argentina to score a winner without Crespo, Riquelme, Messi, Saviola and Aimar?
In the end, Argentina went out in the most ridiculous way possible: with all their best players watching helplessly from the bench.