Tino would like a word.... Asprilla was a beast, too bad that he was More preocupied with partying... But even then, he was increíble. If Tino was as religious/disciplined as Falcao, he would have won waaay More.
he didn’t tho that’s like saying you could have been a better player. james and Falcao have injuries that hurt them. Tino was just a crazy dumbass like Daryo Moreno
Asprilla was incredible. But for me, Falcao and James' accomplishments really stand head and shoulders above. They were each the best at their positions in top leagues and arguably in the world at their peak just like Tino, but Falcao's run as the best 9 on the planet for those 3 years was just different and James filling in for the injured Falcao in 2014 to take the golden boot as a false 9 is legendary. It's such a shame James has tarnished his rep so much later in his career...
Nah. Tino helped turn Parma into a major powerhouse in Europe - they won several European trophies with him and when he went to Newcastle they were the top team in the prem (this is the first couple of years of the Prem being a thing). He had a fantastic club career. Just had an awful 94 World Cup and embarrassed himself in 98 at the show. Which for me takes him out of Falcao and James' pedestal level.
Falcao’s accomplishments are with his clubs though. I always hear that he has to play because he is a legend, but unfortunately his goals have not contributed much to Colombia. He did score a lot of goals in the qualifiers to 14 but that’s about it. In Copa America 2011 Bolillo ruined his chance of stardom and he didn’t have a good tournament, in Brazil he was injured, 2015 Copa same thing, 2016 copa he was not there I don’t think, one goal in 2018 mundial, and that’ about suns it up. in terms of legend, people may hate James but he has done the most when you combine club and national team success
Falcao was a crazy pure goal scorer, he was really good in a few areas and the goals get cemented into our minds. In terms of Colombian legends though, James has accomplished more at club and for country, we're soured because he completely botched his club career from the Zidane years. His talent was unreal at multiple positions, creating and finishing and although he's been an idiot from like 27 on, his body of work stands on its own. Falcao hit great heights for a few years but for country James has done a lot more for us, and although that comes down to bad luck for Falcao I think it's the truth. Overall it's just sad that James really lost his head at his peak and Falcao got a terrible injury. Falcao is just crazy professional and never wavered, James unfortunately is a bit of a head case it seems and did it to himself sitting on the bench at Madrid for too long and then being a pre madonna after that. We could have had these two overlapping and crushing it in a perfect world for 6-8 years.
Changing gears a bit, there's rumors again that Bogota may still be in the running to host some qualifiers. Lorenzo may have been impressed with the atmosphere there during the U20s. That said, Barranquilla is the home of the team and has more seats so more than likely that financial aspect will come into play more than anything.
I just would like to have more games in other cities. Rotate it a bit. Medellin and Cali would be huge successes , but also rotate it to smaller cities too. Maybe some games in manizales, cucuta. THere is enough fans in every city of this country, let them have the experience. Most teams rotate their cities, there is no reason for us to be stuck in one.
We've lost so many games and critical points at home in Barranquilla in the last 2 WCQ. I'm no longer so convinced that there is any benefit to playing in Barranquilla over Bogota. Looking at stadium capacity I thought Baranquilla was closer to 70-80K but it's actually only about 7k more seats than El Campin. I would think people expect more revenue/higher cost ticket sales in Bogota rather than Barranquilla -just based on population, supply/demand and higher income population in Bogota = more spending all around. At the very least, it would be close to a wash.
The benefit to Bogota and Baranquilla from the other cities are the 2 grounds that were set up specifically to host the NT players, training, etc.
Well Nacional has one of the better training centers in Colombia, probably the best. It is not lack of amenities or ability to adapt these for a NT concentration. https://www.atlnacional.com.co/club-sedes/ DeporCali training center has also trained the national team before.
In many ways Barranquilla has been to our detriment. I have mentioned this a bit in other threads but the CONMEBOL referees allow the players to fall on the ground and waste so much time, killing our momentum in recent years. All because of the heat and humidity. The refs themselves have looked drained. I imagine that kind of stuff will not be tolerated in other venues by the refs.
something else that I always dreamed was seeing them play together, unfortunately james emerged right after Falcao had his injury and was already on the decline.
thats how I feel too, it literally makes no difference where they play, that so called advantage because its hot or high altitude is all a bunch of crap. We still lose to Brazil and Argentina wherever tf they play so just spread it to other cities.
I remember that Atl Nacional facility opened up a few years ago. Looks perfect. No doubt I'm sure the fanfare in Medellin would be amazing. All of Colombia really is a futbol loving country. I'm just thinking other logistics (El Dorado is a direct flight from all over the world) and starting with one alternate venue this go around and see how it goes. Trust me, if we move to Bogota or Medellin or wherever, and lose 3 games in a row or something like that, then it's back to Barranquilla. This is considering just how superstitious folks are in Colombia !
In terms of club career, cuadrado is underrated he was probably close to world class at his position under sarri and pirlo and montella's fiorentina Obviously, for colombia, he is probably a net negative.
¿James debe ser titular en el equipo de Lorenzo?🤔 Lo discutimos con @cesaralo y @JFCadavid 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻https://t.co/FYdDjctmPu pic.twitter.com/3Pwx8tX4Pf— Steven Arce (@stevenarce) April 3, 2023
Considering he was missing both Lucho Diaz and Sinisterra, no. But I think the system of play and style is becoming more clear and he has various guys that can slot at different roles (other than 8 and LB) . Those are very encouraging.
Technically Sini has not started for Colombia under Lorenzo and has been used as a spark off the bench. I do agree that he should start but with Lorenzo you just never know.
playing Germany and Iraq Call 40 guys. Starters for Germany, subs/3rd string guys who deserve a shot for Iraq. Excited about Germany tho they aren't as good as a few years ago. Hopefully Arias gets looks from Europe https://www.futbolred.com/seleccion...irak-y-alemania-en-fecha-fifa-de-junio-179850
Rumors were true then about Germany. Iraq is a meaningless game but maybe we can use it to try new guys and perhaps try to play without James there for once