Please only be a precaution. Wrap him in wool, we need him to re-imerge with a vengeance for this round of games.
Al-Rayyan venció 1-0 a Umm-Salal en los octavos de final de la Copa del Emir 2022.🇨🇴 El gol de la victoria lo anotó James Rodríguez-de volea-al 92'. El #10 regresó a la titularidad de la mano de Nicolás Córdova, su nuevo D.T. (chileno).pic.twitter.com/KJsEheDGaP— Samuel Vargas (@SVargasOK) February 15, 2022
First time a peer has spoken out for James in the Benitez conflict. 🇨🇴 Richarlison sobre James Rodríguez💬 “Cuando llegué de los Juegos Olímpicos, me sorprendió lo mucho que corría y se dedicaba a entrenar, lo hacía muy bien. Y de la nada, el entrenador (Rafael Benítez) dijo que ya no contaba con él. Y nadie entendió nada” pic.twitter.com/my6aUY0xHV— Pipe Sierra (@PSierraR) February 19, 2022
So basically: (Benitez benched James out of spite) + (Rueda denied James the opp to market his way out of Everton by not letting him play Copa) = Our best player a shadow of himself when we needed him most It's not lost on me that James obviously plays a role in Benitez hating him and Rueda feeling he needed to humiliate him (to up C4?) but man, Everton and Colombia both lost huge with these decisions. Everton is fighting relegation zone when they want to push for Europe, and Colombia was forced to take an out of form James back anyway, completely having cut off it's nose to spite its face.
James shares some blame probably, and Colombia seems more like a situation that he could have been deserving of some form of discipline. That said the biggest take away is pig headed stubborn managers that lets their arrogance get ahead of what's best for the team ruin teams.
Totes. For me the choice to humiliate James and domesticate him that was made by Rueda has really hurt us. James wasn't able to get a move to a competitive league in the fall, and now that he's been forced back into the team he is getting bullied by C4 on the pitch, and we don't even get the benefit of him on a lot of set pieces. Total mess.
I hate to defend Rueda, but I don't think this was entirely his decision. It was Quieroz that really started handing the reigns to Cuadrado. It was then that the media started calling Cuadrado the leader of the team. Where I do blame Rueda is that Quieroz actually knew how to get decent use of Cuadrado. He was playing pretty well as the 8 in that system that required him to use physicality and NOT his brain or lack of creativity/urgency. But goddamn have I come to dislike Cuadrado since...
But Cuadrado is so humble..,, that humble reputation shields him from the criticism and pressure other players get even though he is selfish, he is humble!
As I get older, the more and more I realize that it truly does not matter what a person experiences or sees with their own eyes. The truth as most people see it is what they're told the truth is. If Gol Caracol's commentary stopped working, the entire country would have Stefan Medina-levels of hate for Cuadrado.
The biggest thing I've learned is line up words with actions always, when they don't add up always trust the actions and things that are verifiable, people will say all types of shit that's in their best interests. In soccer the actions and decisions on the field are always there for all to see, Cuadrado when he plays for us is selfish with the ball and goes into hero mode constantly. Rueda fueled this stupid dynamic between him and James by picking favorites, realistically he could have just killed the whole thing rather giving Cuadrado too much power and feeding his hero complex.
James Rodriguez: “I would have liked to have been at Everton for much longer. It’s a spectacular club, the fans are incredible, but I ran into a coach who didn’t want to count on me. I wanted to be there”. 🔵🇨🇴 #EFC“Unfortunately, the coach didn’t want to count on me”. pic.twitter.com/JTWtyeJS9H— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 21, 2022
🇨🇴🗣 JAMES Rodríguez:⚪ "Al Real MADRID hay que tenerle RESPETO en CHAMPIONS".🇺🇸 "Quiero RETIRARME en la MLS".⚽ "Me alegro mucho por LUIS DÍAZ, ojalá pueda ganar muchas cosas grandes en Liverpool".🖥 Vía: Twitch.¡Os esperamos a las 12 en MEGA! pic.twitter.com/ch0onMvi6m— ChiringuitoLatino (@chirilatino) February 21, 2022
Goal on Thursday in another loss for Al Rayyan. At this point, they are no where near qualifying for the Asian CL and closer to relegation (though they have some buffer there).
Al Rayyan's season has been an absolute ****show. They are behind Al Shamal, who were tipped to be relegated this season. Only the bottom club gets relegated and the 2nd to bottom gets a playoff vs the QatarGas League runner-up, which the QSL teams usually wins. Rayyan need just a point to survive I think which they should get. They could still make the champions league should they win the Amir Cup but it's hard to look past anyone but Al Sadd and maybe Al Duhail. They are in the 2022 ACL, which starts in April.
James Rodriguez confirms he was "one step away" from joining Atletico Madrid few years ago: "Yes, it was almost done. I wanted my family next to me, the deal was set to be completed". 🇨🇴 #Atleti"Everything collapsed because Real Madrid didn't allow me to leave", he added. pic.twitter.com/Un7ZlMxDpj— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 2, 2022
Yeah I remember all that. I think he ended up just staying at RM and ended up doing nothing all season instead
he was on like 15 million euro salary joke is on Madrid. I mean I thought he’d be the guy and be our star for 4 world cups. He just doesn’t really care any more. I don’t blame him. Like I’ll be 32 this year and I want to retire too!!
Remarkable how much went wrong with the Rueda/Benitez/James shenanigans last summer. Colombia outside of qualifying places. James exiled in Qatar. Benitez already fired and Everton, who looked competitive for Europe when James was healthy last year teetering toward the relegation zone. Incredible.