The figure of the Colombian National Team is, indisputably, James Rodriguez. The Colombian has a good time every time he wears the yellow shirt and represents his country, as seen in the Copa América. However, He did not always have the ’10’ and his predecessor spoke about the moment in which the player began to wear this important number.
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Macnelly Torres, who wore the shirt before James established himself as a player in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, spoke with singer Yeison Jiménez about his time in the Colombian National Team.
The man from Barranquilla, who had a successful time in Colombian professional soccer, was also called up on several occasions to represent Colombia in World Cup qualifiers. However, he says that when José Pékerman arrived on the bench of the tricolor team.
‘I didn’t know him’
When he recalled the moment when José Pékerman arrived, he also talked about how the Argentine had a very high opinion of James Rodríguez. Torres had been called up to the National Team for some time when the coaching change was made.
“I came from two processes prior to when he appeared in the National Team, Pékerman loved him very much, he pampered him a lot,” mentioned the former Atlético Nacional.
According to him, one day while they were in concentration, Pékerman approached him to talk to him to ask him to give the number to James Rodríguez. “At the end of the talk he tells me ‘I want to ask you a very special favor, can you leave the number 10 to James?’ “Someone wanting to play for the National Team says ‘no, make him a teacher,'” he said about the moment.
He also pointed out that even the props dressed him with the number ’10’ shirt because he was the one who had a longer process in the National Team. “James barely had two games that he had played against Bolivia and Ecuador in the Senior National Team,” he highlighted.
However, in retrospect, he speculated that perhaps that was what began to sign his departure from the squad for the 2014 World Cup. “At the time I didn’t take it badly, but as the years went by I regretted it. But not for anything bad, but I feel that by giving in that I opened the door for Pékerman to tell me that he was not going to the World Cup,” he assured with resignation.
Macnelly saw it as a mistake to give in so easily to requests to leave the number in Rodríguez’s hands. However, he cleared up any doubts about bad relations with the ’10’ and described him as the best player in the history of the Colombian National Team.
“For me he is the best, because he has the combination of not only being the best soccer player, but also because of the career he had that went through the best teams,” he concluded.
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