Colombian national team: the end of anti-James and pro-Borré narratives… (Meluk tells him)

In football everything is true and everything is a lie. What works today doesn’t work tomorrow, and someone who is a genius one day is a complete fool the next. And even if he denies it outwardly, the light of the result is always the definitive and predominant one, even if with the prism of ‘analysis’ it is later broken down into comments and opinions of seven colors.

Néstor Lorenzo’s Colombian National Team It breaks barriers, mocks unbelievers with its game, its style, its players, its goals, its unbeaten record. Surely when it loses – because one day it will lose, hopefully not soon – the seers of the accomplished fact will come out to give their verdict: “I had already said it,” they will shout from the rooftops.

Now, in its first week in the Copa América, the Colombian National Team also ended with two stories from the ‘scientists’ of convenient overanalysis. The first, pro-coaches with their protactic supremacy, is the anti-James discourse. Under the fallacy of what they called ‘modern football’ 30 years ago, ha! They have been retiring James for more than five years with arguments stolen from their beloved technicians, who are not the gods of the game. The gods of football are, of course, the footballers!

Anti-James story

The anti-James narrative is based on his “lack of discipline and tactical commitment.” James, a genius, the true and only left-footed Colombian poet of all time, is despised by those who look at him through the eyes of a bacteriologist because he doesn’t “put pressure on the opponent,” because he doesn’t “have defensive sacrifice.” Good Lord: ask Scaloni to tell Messi to score!

James alone makes a trademark shadow. James only goes back and sometimes behind the line of the ball. James throws a plank alone.

James doesn’t play like Lerma. James plays like James and Colombia needs him to play like James!

Lorenzo’s charm as a coach, as head of personnel, is that he understands that no other player in this country has that extra quality. Lorenzo is not like other coaches who, arrogant and absolute like those they follow in the press, believe themselves to be more important than the players and ask James to chase the opponent, to cross the “passing lines”, to run back and forth.

Lorenzo gives James the freedom to play like James. That is why his success, that is why James has been the driving force of the National Team in the undefeated, the third place that it occupies today in the 2026 World Cup qualifying round and the classification to the quarterfinals of this Copa América.

Pro-Borré story

I said that there were two “narratives” that ended. The second is the pro-Borré speech. Nobody is going to take away from Borré his merits as a top scorer for the National Team in this era of Lorenzo (five goals, two of them true Chilean jewels), but it was – and is! – completely unnecessary to defend his long disappearances from the games and his absences far from 18 without participating in the game as a whole, under the fallacy of his “modern and complete style without the ball.”

Unnecessary protectionism. A fear of criticizing it for looking good with the source, hidden in the petticoats of the supposed supernatural understanding of the game.

With the party of John Cordoba against Costa Rica, the great figure of the 3-0 with a penalty caused, a goal and two options created, the protectionist and free speech to defend Borré in the “unchecking movements”, the “generation of spaces”, the “search of roads”, the “defensive coverage” and its “tactical functionality” were evident.

They are unnecessary. As was unnecessary for them not to blush to assure that Borré, as they said in an official bulletin of the National Team to protect him, was not a starter due to an alleged blow to the ankle. Plop!

Borré will continue scoring his goals and will continue to have his gaps. Córdoba has scored 3 goals in 256 minutes (one every 85 minutes). Borré has scored 5 in 1,049 (one every 209.8).

One day Colombia will lose a match and may not win this Copa América, but it already has two huge victories: it put an end to the gratuitous anti-James and pro-Borré narratives.

Meluk tells him

Gabriel Meluk

SPORTS Editor

@MelukLeCuenta

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