It has, in fact, been a very long time since James Rodríguez got fans all over the world on the edge of their seats with two assists and a goal in Colombia’s opening match at the 2014 World Cup. It has now been a full decade since he went on to push Colombia to the quarter-finals, falling short to hosts Brazil despite a goal from Rodríguez that ended with him as the tournament’s leading scorer with six goals and those two assists.
By Jon Arnold
“Hopefully he’ll continue to progress because he’s very young,” legendary Uruguay manager Óscar Washington Tabárez said at the time.
He didn’t. At least, not really. The amount of times Rodríguez has attempted to mount a bounce-back campaign really is remarkable.
Yet, a decade after making the Best XI at the World Cup, Rodríguez once again is in the position of competing for the Best Player award at a major tournament. Yes, Rodríguez has turned back the clock, but what’s striking is how effortless everything looks when compared to how difficult things have been for him in the interim.
After the World Cup, he moved to Real Madrid from Monaco on a huge transfer but was unable to earn a regular place in Zinedine Zidane’s XI. That saw him head to Bayern Munich, where his first season was satisfactory but his second season again saw him fall flat. Then it was in to the footballing wilderness with quick stops at Everton, with Al-Rayyan in Qatar, with Olympiacos and now with São Paulo.
It would be easy to think that things are clicking for Rodríguez in Brazil, but the truth is that it appears the Colombia national team is his happy place. Even with São Paulo, he is playing rarely and isn’t scoring or setting up goals when he does. Instead, manager Nestor Lorenzo has made him very comfortable during the Cafeteros’ current 25-match unbeaten run, taking him back to that warm, safe place.
The Copa América has been a continuation of World Cup qualification, in which Colombia sits third after six matches with three wins and three draws.
In the United States, Rodríguez has registered a goal from the penalty spot and five assists in four matches. Critics will say he’s running up the numbers against opposition less daunting than many of the teams his rivals are facing. Supporters will say that not even those good numbers don’t tell the full story.
More often than not, Rodríguez is setting up the move, enjoying being the focus of the Colombia attack and finding scoring chances that recall the brilliance of 2014 when he had the ball and the whole world at his feet.
It’s a rotating cast of players in front of Rodríguez who are benefitting from his placement on set pieces or from the run of play. Three Colombia players have a pair of goals in the tournament, and five others have one for a total of eight scorers so far – many of them on the scoresheet thanks to Rodríguez’s magic.
It’s enough to make everyone think back a decade and feel the nostalgia of a different time. The effect is so strong, a reporter in the mixed zone after the match insisted on asking Rodríguez only bizarre otherworldly questions. “Do you sleep with the lamp, genie?” “Are you aware you’re not a human-being when it comes to soccer but an alien?” When Rodríguez laughed it off when an “I don’t think so”, the Colombian insisted, “I do.”
“The hardest part is still to come, the semis and hopefully we can get to a final that we all want,” Rodríguez said during that exchange.
When Rodríguez does sleep – in a lamp or a more conventional bed – he has to be dreaming of what it would mean to deliver his country its first major trophy since long before his own World Cup high point. The 2001 Copa América, played in Colombia, is the only time Colombia has been able to win a major competition.
If it can get past Uruguay in Wednesday’s semi-final and win in the final, it will no doubt be thanks to Rodríguez and the way he is pulling the strings, setting up attackers, turning back the clock and reminding everyone the good ol’ days aren’t so far gone after all.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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