Gerardo Martino said he doubted whether Argentina match-winner Carlos Tevez would handle the pressure of another Copa America penalty shoot-out against Colombia on Friday.
Martino s men eventually reached the semi-finals by winning 5-4 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in Vina del Mar, with Tevez stepping up to clinch victory with his side s seventh kick.
Tevez s coach later confessed that he had held back the striker in case he could not cope with the memories of his vital mistake in Argentina s shoot-out exit to Uruguay in 2011.
Fernando Muslera saved Tevez s penalty in the Santa Fe quarter-final, and it was the only penalty missed as the then-hosts bowed out.
Football is like that sometimes. I didn t put Tevez in among the first five penalties because he had missed in the previous Copa America, Martino told reporters at a post-match news conference.
We tried to prevent him having to go up and take one but eventually it came around to him. That s football, and tomorrow s headlines will all be about redemption.
The 52-year-old was full of praise for his side s performance despite them being unable to make their superiority count with a win in normal time.
We bossed the 90 minutes, he added.
I think we neutralised them in the way we pressed. I remember Colombia having a headed chance from a corner and that was about it.
David Ospina was the main figure on the pitch, but there have been many games in the past like this one.
Sometimes you don t get what you should for dominating, and I cannot imagine what it would have been like if we were sat here now talking about a defeat.
If there was one failure today it was that we didn t score, but that s part of the game. But the fact we have played like we have is a positive.
Argentina will face one of Brazil or Paraguay in Tuesday s second semi-final in Concepcion, with the identity of their opponents to be settled in Saturday s remaining quarter-final.
