James Rodríguez has scored his first goal with Al Rayyan in the Qatar League. He has done so in the 4-2 win against Al Sailiya. He celebrated it, but did Colombia celebrate it?
There is the doubt. The southpaw has been praised in Qatar, where they already feel that his stellar signing is beginning to pay off, but in his country the optimism has been much more subdued.
James scored the partial 3-0 in the 74th minute, one of his famous breaks and an open left-footed shot, with effect, to leave the rival goalkeeper with no option. Nice goal to silence a part of his critics, unhappy because since his debut he had not had an undeniable influence on his new club.
This time, almost dedicating himself to them, he did everything well: double assist Boli, who wasted the subtlety of the pass; sacrifice to try to help the brand; Courage to withstand the rain of kicks applied by Al Sailiya’s shuttlecocks and enough tank to finish the game, beyond some signs of fatigue, which are almost normal after almost five months without competition.
But still it seems not to reach. James adjusted three games in Qatar, two in the League and one in the Cup, with 264 total minutes and one touchdown. His three preseason games with Everton (2 of the Florida Cup and one against Manchester United) do not add up so that is where his balance ends.
But beware that if compared with his replacement in the Colombian National Team, Juan Fernando Quintero, the numbers are quite even. Here you have to go to the whole of 2021 to have a homogeneous measure: in that order of ideas, James would total 16 games, adding the 13 he played with Everton. In his total account he would have 4 goals (he scored three in England). Quintero came to Rueda’s team with 14 games played in Shenzhen in China (without goals), the last one on August 11, almost a month before the three-legged qualifying matches in September. Despite the inactivity, he managed to play 5 games with the yellow jersey.
The numbers make it clear that James, in total, has more games and more goals than his positional partner, but the famous 500 percent performance seems to operate almost exclusively for him. Now he has scored a goal, records minutes, has been gaining confidence, one of his great shortcomings after leaving England, and physically he seems to have no problems reaching a national squad. So, what else is missing to certify the return to the Colombian National Team?
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