Colombia’s James Rodríguez seeks top honours and sends warning to Brazil

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jun/29/colombia-uruguay-james-rodriguez

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James – or “Ha-mez” – Rodríguez. J-Rod. The New Kid. Call him what you like but there is little doubt that, as Uruguay’s vanquished coach, Óscar Tabárez, said afterwards, the Monaco playmaker is at this stage the player of the World Cup.

To book his side a mouth-watering quarter-final against the hosts in Fortaleza, arguably the host city that has crackled with the most atmosphere in Brazil, Rodríguez took his tally to five goals for the tournament. Continuing a red-hot run of form, it was also the sixth consecutive match in which he has scored.

If José Pékerman’s side can overcome a Brazil side fatigued mentally and physically by their victory on penalties over Chile in Belo Horizonte, he can make this World Cup his own.

For the first half-hour, this last-16 match had pottered along as a fairly cagey affair. Uruguay were clearly missing Luis Suárez’s spark and cutting edge, with the veteran striker Diego Forlán toiling as his replacement and Edinson Cavani curiously underwhelming, but had more of the game than their opponents.

Until, that is, Rodríguez took matters into his own hands. Chesting down an innocuous header from Abel Aguilar around 25 yards from the goal, Rodríguez glanced up and then sent a dipping volley crashing into Fernando Muslera’s net off the underside of the crossbar.

It was the sort of goal that demands a double-take. There is something particularly aesthetically appealing about any goal that strikes the underside of the bar on the way in and this was a stunning strike of grace and power.

With one swing of his left boot, the understated 22-year-old – who made his reputation at Porto prior to a £40m move to Monaco last summer – confirmed he should be considered a serious rival to Lionel Messi, Neymar and Arjen Robben for the individual honours at this World Cup.

It was tempting to see this match as a tale of two players in two South American cities. One was back at his holiday home in Solymar, licking his wounds and wondering at what might have been.

The other was revelling in making the Maracanã his own, scoring one of the goals of this or any other World Cup to put his side ahead and finishing off a sumptuous, sweeping move for the second that killed the game.

But while Rodríguez’s pre-eminence and the absence of Luis Suárez – there cannot be anyone on earth who did not know why by the time this game kicked off in front of a sea of Uruguay fans in masks bearing his image – were key factors, they were far from the whole story.

The second goal, sparking another outbreak of wild celebration, showcased all the reasons why Colombia are far from a one-man team.

Considered dark horses after a good qualifying campaign, Colombia had been all but written off by some when Radamel Falcao was injured on the eve of the World Cup. But in his absence Jackson Martínez, Juan Cuadrado and Teófilo Gutiérrez have proved a mobile and fluid foil to the creativity and gliding movement of Rodríguez.

It was Cuadrado’s header during a flowing move on 50 minutes, knocking the ball back across goal for Rodríguez to turn it home, which finished the match as a contest.

Tabárez, whose contract is up but said that he was in talks over a new one despite the draining distraction of the Suárez affair, was magnanimous after the match.

Full of pride in the way his own side had attempted to pull together after their talisman was banned for his bite, he nevertheless acknowledged Rodríguez as the difference and placed him on the same level as Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and – tellingly – Suárez himself.

For Colombia a journey – described as a “dream” by Rodríguez – continues into uncharted territory and their first ever World Cup quarter-final.

“They have a good players but we can be dangerous. This will be a beautiful match and will be extraordinary for us to play in,” said Rodríguez. If this World Cup keeps spoiling us as it has to date, it should be extraordinary to watch too.