Arias already played as a LB several times for Colombia, but of course he is more comfortable in the right side. We also need to see how he'll return from his injury. And yes, this should be the starting lineup, with a change of a player or two. Wouldn't mind even to bench James, unless he'll adapt in Rueda's system.
I know we keep saying its OK to bench James if he continues to have issues with Rueda - and it's true that we have the quality to be competitive without him, but until his quality really recedes, we will always be sacrificing our potential in doing so (all else being equal). Truly, I hope that he can figure this out with Rueda and re-enter the team. Watching Argentina and Uruguay the other night and even Germany and Portugal yesterday, its so annoying to have our most gifted player at home. We need to be able to play at one touch and be incisive and that's what he brings. I also agree with the point on C4 being more involved and dangerous lately as he has played further upfield in this call up. Ideally you could achieve both by moving James back to his natural side on the left (if you think about it he played there for Banfield, Porto and Monaco before Ancelloti inverted him). He and C4 could then switch positions during the games as they used to in the qualifying for 2014. So then the ideal WC formation (assuming health, form, and peace within the locker room) would look like: ---------------- Ospina -------------- Arias - Mina - Sanchez - Fabra -------- Barrios --- Uribe ----------- C4 ---------------------------- James ---------Muriel ---- Zapata ----------
Another thing is the CB issue. No doubt who are our best options, but both of them had a terrible year and it shows in our matches, even the one that we didn't concede goals. For some reason, they look a bit shaky to me and this is the last thing that we can afford.
We need to start phasing in some of younger generation. Also, why all of sudden Colombian coaches keep calling up so may forwards like they can on the wing? I thought it was a Carlos Quieroz fallacy but now, Rueda is doing the same thing. Can we call up more attacking mids and wingers?
It is hard for me to blame Rueda when he has had very little time with the current generation. Hard to bring in a new generation when he is still evaluating people who have been prominent players and our core in recent tournaments. I personally do not know what new players at Attacking mid and winger would have made a difference.
I have no major critiques of Rueda right now. It’s too soon. Like any other prior coach, I question the sub decisions the most. I do wonder why tesillo > fabra. I really would have liked to see Cantillo and Villa for this Copa instead of Chara, Jaminton - not a knock on Jaminton but he would have probably been better suited in a lower pressure environment. I’m a long ways from calling for anyone’s head. I was probably one of the last ones to call for CQ’s head so I clearly need to give Rueda plenty of rope LOL
I do not think Cantillo was getting any playing time for Corinthians (at the time of the Roster selection) so I can see why he was left off. (I see that now he is playing since Brasil is still playing their season during the Copa.) The Villa situation is obviously a delicate one due to his legal problems. Would have been an added distraction and bad from a PR perspective. Colombia just does not need that right now.
Venezulea with 12 players with covid…. Is a high pressure debut ? Chara, Perlaza and Perez call ups are unacceptable. Campaz was a call up for the future. Hasn’t been given a shot yet. I also find Murillo call up insulting. Wtf did he bring Cuesta and Lucumi to give them 0 minutes. Again a Venezulea with 12-15 guys with covid…. that was the time to start a u23 team. Or the 2026 team. Not that Murillo sucks but he is 33 and the starters are 26. Why call up a dude that old when you can try players.
I was watching a Euro game a couple weeks ago and the commentator said what many people have been saying around here. Most managers in Major tournament situations are going to go with veterans and not go with new kids. It especially rings true when applied to a new manager. In this case Rueda brought in veterans he knows very well and who know his tactics, his culture in the locker room, and his expectations. To say that Chara, Perez and Murillo are unacceptable and/or insulting does not make any logical sense when you account for the context. Perlaza is one of the best players on Nacional and provides a different skill set in midfield so he wanted to give him a look in camp. Obviously he did not like what he saw or just does not see him ready for this level. This was not time to start a U23 team. We would have probably finished last and he would have been criticized by the Federation and the media..
Man Venezuela played with habitual players: Aristigueta, Fariñez, Joseph Martinez, they opt for bench Yangel Herrera arguabbly their best polayer in europe, then he played in second half... Beside covid trouble do you verify who are startes in venezuela and who are subs....this venezuela have had a good cup, against brasil they played good until first goal, agaisnt ecuador arguably the best match of the torunament and i think they will defeat peru...... yeah i agree perez, chara and perlaza are unnaceptable......but i trust a lot of in Murillo
No one is asking to start a U23 team, but it was RUEDA - not anyone here - who declared he would use this tournament to test players/tactics and he has made reference to it several times this week in his conferences. He also stated you had to be at 500% to make his team. That is the context Rueda established. Once you start from there, as Pep says, call ups of journeymen veterans like Chara and Perez ,who most definitely are not at 500%, when he could test or give minutes to young players that are make no sense. Valoyes is coming off a super impressive season in Argentina - literally led their league in takes and plays well on the RW (I think most would say he had a better season than Villa at that position in the same league and has none of the baggage) and it's not flashes here and there, the guy has a high volume of play. Carbonero also deserves an opp as does Sinisterra (though with Luis coming back from injury I guess you could say he wasn't 500% but people called in his place weren't either). The net outcome is he hasn't been able to give C4 a minute of rest in this tournament because he doesn't have a RW sub. He will have to invent something now for the qtr because he is forced to. The LB situation is just as baffling. Should have called Fabra from the start or given a shot to someone. I don't have a problem with his strategy but he isn't operating consistently with it through his call ups or the subs. That's what's been disappointing to me.
so I was right then? It just seems to me like he's trying all kinds of different ways of playing. Not even necessarily formations or players, but player functions. If thats the case, then im not mad at it.
I have no issue with the testing and trying out new things but do we think Rueda is telling the players to not pass the ball into open space? I probably pound the most sand about our lack of passes into open space but that can’t be a mandate from Rueda, can it? I know this is probably apples and oranges but when I ran my team, whenever we had scrimmages, I would have us play 1 or two touch footy more as a drill than a in-game tactic.
Crzd was asking for a U23 team no? Rueda has gone to war with guys like Perez who have gone 500% and won him a Libertadores. It is not like Colombian teams are winning Libertadores every year left and right. So I have no problem with him putting his trust into players he recognizes and is familiar with and bringing them to a tournament like this. We know. We know you think the kids in Argentina should have been called up. They were not. I am not sure why they were not called in, only he can answer that. But no one in the media is really asking him why those guys were not called in so it is not like the biggest travesty except for you and maybe a couple others around here who think they are good enough for this level or should be in camp. I agree on Fabra but I must admit he did not look all that great for Boca consistently. Did look okay in Libertadores matches near the end though. I think we cannot judge anything until September. Only he truly knows what he is learning about this team and learning about his core of players he wants to play this fall.
CRZD was talking about the line up for one game (against Ven) but then I won't try to explain CRZD logic because admittedly it is beyond us all. I think Rueda is still in honeymoon phase and the James situation obscured scrutiny of the call up in general as it's all focused on him. He was asked about in his first press conference before the qualifiers and was being interrogated on a several of them and before it got out of hand said he wouldn't use his time with media to explain each player. Impressively, that got him out of it. He is a veteran and has pull with the Colombian media I guess... On the 500% thing - I don't buy the 'they were once 500% for me five years ago' as an explanation that is not at all what he said or was referring to. I know you are OK with his call up. That's fine, I still haven't seen anyone argue well how it was coherent to his stated goals for the tournament (and the exclusion of those kids is just one of the ways in which it wasn't). In this case, you specifically stated there were no kids with arguments to be called at RW and I raised three.
you know, it could be. Since you want to bring up the topic of amateur "coaches" I had plenty of old school colombian coaches who always wanted "la pelota al pie".
What he really needs to emphasize is playing without the ball when on offense. That's really what we are missing.
Correct. A shame this hasn’t been emphasized already. The core team has been together enough that they should already know this. Hopefully we figure it out
It was the most important thing Pekerman brought... though arguably having natural fullbacks made this easier for him to pull off. It's why we were such an attractive side in Brasil 2014...
all the players he had are gone now. He got there just in time because all those guys were in their final years already
None of the three are ready for battles at this level yet. And the one guy who he thought was ready (Campaz) does not seem ready yet for this level either.