The hope had been lost for a long time, beyond the bureaucratic procedures, the courts, the plays of the lawyers who did not end in Milagro.
James Rodríguez knew months ago that his main motivation to get to León de México, the possibility of playing the Club World Cup from June 14, and is a chimera, an impossible, an unfinished dream.
He hastened to say that despite everything he was happy in his club and in Guanajuato, that he was accommodated and that he would not leave the team just at such a difficult time. However, his revenge, which was the MX League, did not go well: Cruza Azul won the quarterfinals for a global 5-3 and also denied the possibility of playing the semifinal of the Clausura tournament. Another blow.
What will happen to its future … and that of the Colombian National Team?
The reality of seeing itself without competence in an untimely way is, in the specific case of James, an alarm signal: will it leave, sad and demotivated, of another club, as did in the last casts that hired him and dismissed him before finishing his contract?
They are not unfounded fears because of Sao Paulo and Rayo Vallecano, his last teams, he went through the negotiation, which released him sportively but was a bleeding in economic terms. This time, without competition and knowing that it costs León 5 million dollars per year, an amount that was going to arrive through the World Cup but that will no longer enter, the uncertainty returns.
James Rodríguez in León vs Cruz Azul
Photo:
@Clublageonfc
However, it is worth asking: is it really so bad that the captain rests and goes on vacation with his sculptural couple, when the closure of the qualifiers comes in which the Colombian National Team suffered a downturn and is not yet classified to the 2026 World Cup? The answer is no.
Holiday history was not entirely bad
There is a key moment in the reconciliation of James Rodríguez with his football and it is the Colombian campaign in the Copa América 2024. That is the great reference at the time of comparisons: was it very competitively toned speaking at that time or did it come inactive? Surprise!
According to Sofascore data, it came from having a bad time in Sao Paulo: he played 10 games (ten sections, actually), scored 1 goal and gave 1 assistance and gave 1.3 key passes per game. He always maintained the precision of his pass (86 percent) and his qualification, so it was not bad (7.2), but played very, very little. That's why he left.
Photo:
Sofascore para Futbolred
And when he left he did not go to the beach but at a concentration of about 50 days with the national team, which put it physical and sports, so that in the end it would be consecrated as the MVP of the Copa América, taking Colombia to the final.
That is why this new inactivity had to be taken more calmly and finding a proactive solution, as happened a year ago for this same time.
Today James comes with 19 games, 2 goals and 7 assists, 2.3 key meeting and a 7.5 rating in León de México. It certainly brings better background. It is pure maintenance.
Perhaps that is the meaning of the microcycle that is intended to advance in Medellín in days prior to the two qualifiers matches against Peru and Argentina, which would only have players on vacation and with its finished seasons. There is the residence of the 10 and his girlfriend, his primary family awaits him and, if everything goes well, also Lorenzo and the tricolor coaching staff.
The conditions would end up being very similar to that previous phase of the Copa América, with work but without forcing their physique, which must always be carried with tweezers. What is coming is the match against Peruvians in Barranquilla, on June 6, and to visit the leaders and already classified Argentines, who will surely not have the stars to compete in the Club World Cup. The 6 points will ensure the box and for September James and all will have preseason and high competition in their clubs on whether something must be corrected. But, on paper, the most successful possible scenario can be replicated now. What can go wrong?
