Cantillo in!! Nuevo jugador convocado a la Selección Colombia de Mayores.🔗 https://t.co/Zf4ehdN3Su#VamosColombia pic.twitter.com/V90z4Twofp— Selección Colombia (@FCFSeleccionCol) January 23, 2022
I think we should be ok with Falcao, Borre, Morelos and Borja but realistically its non sensical to stay with a 4-4-2 that has been giving us terrible results with a complete lack of a midfield. Previously I think ok we gave 4-4-2 a try because we had a lot of forwards and lacked midfielders with James and Quintero out of the squad in the COPA, but honestly I don't think we should be prioritizing getting 2 out of those 4 strikers on the field, none of them are playing at such a level that we really want two of them on the field when our offense has been anemic and none of them have a ton of experience or results playing together.
This is exactly right - the logic of "we only are comfortable in 442" falls apart when you consistently struggle to generate scoring opportunities. We should be coaching to what works best for these players and establish continuity on that. It baffles me because Rueda with the youth and in his first stint with us wasnt dogmatic at all. Truly though the biggest issue for me is the lack of transition from defense to offense. Until we stop letting the opposition get into position before we attack it won't matter what formation we are in... Diaz will continue to be running into double teams, dudes will be hanging all over Duvan or Borja and we will be ultra dependent on iso ball. So important whether it's Cantillo or James or whoever we have someone that can put passes between the lines on the field...
100% - I think we are unanimous with this criticism. We have too many talented players to be playing iso ball If this were a pick up team and the players just met for the first time, I could let it slide for a game or two but Rueda has been doing this since pretty much his first game with us. Rather than seeing Cuadrado or even Lucho try and dribble through 2 defenders, someone else should be making a run into open space so that Cuadrdo/Lucho can make a pass into space
The thing is that they are being coached to pass the ball around and build from the back. They must be because these guys don't play this way for their clubs and for the most part we've played without a 6 or 8 that can make the fast transition (Uribe even in form isn't really that guy). Even when Quintero has added some vertigo he had played from RW and tracked back to get it. Cantillo has been closest in that last game, so hopefully we learn from that. I think Alzate has that balance too and am curious what he would bring.
Rueda has not given an official reason. I have heard though that Cuesta has mentioned that he was not feeling well after catching covid and was unsure if he was going to be at 100% by the time qualifiers came up. So Rueda based on that information called up Tesillo instead.
It baffles me too to a certain extent because he was able to experiment freely with Nacional with lineups and formations. That said, I think Ecuadorean fans would tell us that he was very rigid with them. Maybe Hondurans too. (Not sure.) IT may just be his style as a National Team coach. And as some have said before he wants to be conservative rather than risk too much.
Copa America was the golden opportunity to experiment and prepare, bring in new younger players and get them in the squad and used to each other, try a couple formations and have all that information and preparation before the important games for qualification. Rueda called up a bunch of guys who shouldn't be near the squad, barely gave chances to new players breaking through and largely didn't try and other formations. Rueda also overplayed guys like Mina and Duvan who are playing lots of minutes and Mina has been constantly injured this season after being overplayed in a previous round of qualifiers as well. Really poor mistakes at every level from Rueda, honestly CQ may have lost control of the dressing room but tactically and preparation wise/squad selection he was better then Rueda and I don't think its super close either.
Well, he would probably say that he was very unfamiliar with the main guys so he needed to focus on them and not on new blood. Any new coach needs to focus on his main team of players and figure out what he can do with them. He did experiment with formations and lineups we have never seen before too so it was not like he was just doing the same thing the previous manager was doing. Mina is always injured no matter how much he plays for us. Duvan maybe could have benefited from more rest.
Possibly. But Queiroz seemed to try and force us to play a style that was counter-productive to our identity. Square peg in the round hole situation trying to make us play more European. The Chile match showed me what we can be like under Rueda. We played like Colombia again. I am hoping we can do that again against Peru and Bolivia. That should be enough to put us into Qatar and we can start all over again with camps and experimenting with a clean slate and a sigh of relief.
Which doesn't explain guys like Seb Perez playing. Sure he could say he needed to get familiar with new guys but he's the coach he's not actually playing games, he could have just watched games of Davinson and Mina and given Cuesta and Lucemi at least one game. The justifications aren't anywhere near optimal from Rueda, everyone has a reason for everything and it doesn't mean you're choosing what's best for the process, and I think its fairly clear that Rueda's process has been a cluster********.
Perez was getting minutes in Portugal and scored a Golazo a few weeks before the tournament but yes, it showed preferential bias due to familiarity with him. There have been ups and downs during the whole process and we have done things under him that look pretty good and bad on both ends of the spectrum. All I can say on his behalf is that we are in a qualifying spot with four games to go. We will be favored to make it to the World Cup because we will be favored in three of those games. The ends will justify the means if we make it.
If we do not make it though we were just not good enough. Rueda would be a major reason. Queiroz will also be a major reason. And the players will also have to hold some accountability.
If we make it and the fact that we are in a qualifying position now is largely due to the teams around us collapsing as well for the most part, Rueda has no control over that. What he can control is our performances and they have not been good under Rueda, offensively has been abysmal. Whether we make it or not he's done a really poor job making simple mistakes, if he can rectify that in the last remaining games and change course tactically and selection wise then that would be a ray of hope but I'm not going to hold my breath.
Lerma…out Comunicado Selección Colombia: Jéfferson Lerma.🔗 https://t.co/ZZE551uMZs#VamosColombia🇨🇴 pic.twitter.com/3rvO8LyMiH— Selección Colombia (@FCFSeleccionCol) January 23, 2022
Hope he's ok but tbh not that big a deal seeing as he was gonna miss the first game and largely has disappointed for us. Hopefully Alzate/Cantillo get minutes instead.
Qualifying is tough. Especially in South America. Add in a pandemic with rounds of three matches and other strange events that people cannot control and we can only judge him by where we are position wise compared to where we were under Queiroz. Teams may be collapsing because there is a lot of parity and a lot of scrappy play with familiar teams desperate not to lose. We have to give Rueda credit for getting points in places other teams are having problems getting points and for keeping us organized for the most part and playing sound defense no matter what back line he experiments with.