Néstor Lorenzo

Néstor Lorenzo’s appointment as Colombia head coach in June 2022 was the federation’s quietest big-name hire in years. A 60-year-old Argentine defender who had played at the 1990 World Cup, Lorenzo had spent the better part of two decades as José Pekerman’s assistant — first with Argentina’s U-20 and senior teams (2000-2006), then with Colombia (2012-2019), where he was alongside the bench for James Rodríguez’s Golden Boot tournament in Brazil 2014 and the 2018 round-of-16 exit in Russia. After Pekerman’s departure he managed Melgar in the Peruvian top flight for two and a half years, winning a Copa Sudamericana group and earning a reputation as a tactically grounded, low-ego operator. The Colombian federation, embarrassed by Reinaldo Rueda’s Qatar qualifying failure, decided continuity with the Pekerman era was the antidote.

Lorenzo’s footballing identity is rooted in the Pekerman school — possession-friendly 4-3-3, technical players prioritized over physical midfielders, set-piece coaching as a non-negotiable competitive advantage. As Colombia head coach he has refined this into a system that gives James Rodríguez full creative license while using Luis Díaz’s pace as the primary vertical outlet. The full-backs (Daniel Muñoz on the right, Johan Mojica or Déiver Machado on the left) push high; the centre-back pairing of Dávinson Sánchez and Jhon Lucumí absorbs the cover. Jefferson Lerma plays as the destroyer-in-residence behind James. Tournament football is approached pragmatically — Lorenzo will drop into a 4-5-1 against elite opposition without apology.

The defining moment of his tenure remains the 2024 Copa América final. Colombia entered the tournament on a 23-match unbeaten run; they topped a group containing Brazil; they beat Uruguay 1-0 in the semifinal; and they led Argentina at halftime of the final at Hard Rock Stadium before Lautaro Martínez’s 112th-minute extra-time winner ended the dream. The unbeaten streak eventually reached 28 games — one of the longest in international football since 2010 — and Lorenzo was widely considered the coach of the tournament. Colombia’s subsequent CONMEBOL qualifying campaign was more uneven, but they topped the standings ahead of Uruguay and Ecuador, securing their first World Cup berth since 2018.

The Argentine question follows Lorenzo to North America: he will face his home country in any quarterfinal or semifinal scenario, and the man who was Scaloni’s brief assistant in 2014 (during Argentina’s U-20 reset, before Scaloni took the senior job in 2018) will be coaching against the Albiceleste. His relationship with James — pragmatic, professional, sometimes strained over playing minutes — and his handling of an aging spine (Ospina at 36, James at 34, Mina at 31) will shape Colombia’s tournament. The Pekerman blueprint says the Cafeteros can reach a quarterfinal or beyond. Whether Lorenzo can extract more is the question on which his legacy rests.