"It's not easy to lose a player [midfielder Carlos Sanchez] in the first three minutes [of the match], but we managed to cope with the situation. We even equalized... But Japan managed to adapt to the situation, they managed to score, as they played better," Pekerman told journalists.

He added that his team became tired after they were reduced to 10 men so early in the game.

"We had two players in attack in the second half with Carlos Bacca and James Rodriguez, as [Juan] Quintero was tired after the first half. There were possibilities to attack, but when you have 10 men instead of 11, it means one is missing in the middle... We lost because we were tired," Pekerman added.