05/29/2023
In James Rodríguez’s most recent interview with Vince Sports, the Colombian striker talked about the failed World Cup process in Qatar and referred to coach Reinaldo Rueda: “I never had any problems (technically) with the Colombian national team. Later I played four or five games with Rueda. He’s the one I played the least with in the national team. Nothing happened to him. He seemed like a super nice guy. It wasn’t personal,” James he said.
Furthermore, he conceded that mistakes had been made in the final stages of the qualifiers: “We made mistakes. It cannot be that we do not score goals in seven games. With so many good players we have, it is up to us Game two or three goals.
As a result of these statements, coach Reinaldo Rueda broke his silence on the YouTube channel, Linea de 4 TV, and there he spoke about what happened to James Rodríguez during his tenure at the head of the tricolor.
“It’s never happened in my career. The vault here was unbelievably closed and confidence was lost; when it’s lost it’s tough… Confidence is trained by winning and we had to see something that was close to my heart.” That had never happened to me in a career of 43 years. It was a very rare occurrence because in their clubs they arrived and were released, but in the national team it was different”, Rueda said.
Regarding the reason for playing so little with James in charge of the national team, he gave the following reasoning: “What I wanted was to protect the national team and it. I told James, I don’t want to abuse you, I need 2 or Don’t want a James for 3 games, but a James for 10 games, so that he can play another five years at a high level. Look, it’s been years since he was in that physical condition. I wanted him to go through the full recovery protocol. Take a break, because because of his nobility and passion for the Colombian jersey, James will always want to play, even if at half speed; and thus he hurts himself and also the national team”.
