This Saturday is not just another game for the Colombian National Team, in which they will close their preparation for the Copa América. The duel against Bolivia in East Hartford, Connecticut, at 4 p.m., will serve to mark a milestone. James Rodríguez reaches 100 games with the national shirt.
According to the criteria of
Against that same rival, almost 13 years ago, James debuted with the National Team. They were different times: Leonel Álvarez was the coach, the team was trying to return to a World Cup after many years of absence and the qualifying round for Brazil 2014 was just beginning. And there appeared a 20-year-old young man, who had just played in the U-20 World Cup in Colombia and who that day put on a shirt with a strange number, the number 5.
It didn’t take him long to do two things: earn the number 10 shirt and be important with the National Team; He was key to qualifying for Brazil and returning to the World Cup after 16 years (he scored three goals and three assists), he was the top scorer in the World Cup, with six goals, and had a great qualifying match for Russia 2018, with six goals. and four goal passes.
The last few years have not been so brilliant for James: his contribution on the route to Qatar 2022 was scarce, coinciding with the hardest moments of his career and with the difficulties with the technicians who passed through the National Team: Carlos Queiroz did not call him no match between the end of the Copa América 2019 and the start of the qualifying round. Reinaldo Rueda did not call him for the 2021 Cup in Brazil, which generated a strong reaction from the ’10’ on the networks. He only scored two goals in the qualifiers, and both were penalties.
The return of Néstor Lorenzo, now as head of the group, gave James a new look. As he himself said in the middle of the Copa América Centenario, in 2016: “I play with the National Team until I’m lame.” In six games of the current tie he has a goal and two assists.
There are only six Colombian soccer players with 100 or more international matches (see graph). One of them, David Ospina, could have minutes in this game. Of the other five, two were not called by Lorenzo (Falcao García and Juan Guillermo Cuadrado) and three have already retired (Carlos Valderrama, Mario Yepes and Leonel Álvarez).
The Copa América continues to be an outstanding debt for James, who reached the semifinals once, in 2016. In the other two he played, he was left out in the quarterfinals (2015 and 2019). The last time he wasn’t there. So the spirit of revenge is there, latent.
The game against Bolivia will also serve to rotate the roster
“Surely there is a very even level in all positions. We will give minutes to guys who have not participated in previous games, clearly not in all positions, but there will be some changes,” Lorenzo declared.
“We have to give the list before the game, so I already spoke with the players who are not going to be on the final Copa América list, thanking them for what they did, their effort and what they said and responded was good. They were grateful for having been there. The two of them are Sebastián Gómez and Yerson Mosquera. It’s a shame, but they are two exceptional players with a great future,” explained Lorenzo.
The coach insists on getting the title of candidate for the Cup title. “The excitement is genuine because I tell the boys that they are transmitting something that reaches people. We have a lot to improve, we are not yet candidates, favorites or at the level of the countries that won the Copa América. The idea is not to go crazy and continue transmitting what the National Team transmits,” he stressed.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Deputy Editor
@josasc
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