Back in the day, James Rodriguezwouldn’t miss an international fixture unless he was ruled out with a serious injury or suspended. But things have changedand Reinaldo Rueda hasn’t called him up to the Colombianational team – again.
The30-year-old playmaker, who shoneatReal Madrid and recently at Everton in the Premier League, won’t be part of Los Cafeteros’ squad for the South American 2022 World Cup Qualifiers triple-fixture in October.
But how come one of the country’smost gifted players is missing the national team roster again? Here, we’ll break down why James Rodriguez isn’t playing against Uruguay, Brazil, and Ecuador.
Why wasn’t James Rodriguez called up by Colombia for the October fixtures?
To explain whyJames isn’t part of the Colombia national team, we have to go back to June, when Rueda opted to leave him out of the roster for the first time ahead of the 2021 Copa America. He wasn’t fully recovered from an injury-marredend ofseason with Everton, buthis reaction only made things worse.
James took it personal and showed himself frustrated for not being part of the squad. That didn’t help to change Rueda’s mind and he wasn’t called up to the September fixtures either. But he isn’t at his best right now.
James Rodriguez hasn’t played a single minute this seasonand the coaching staff of his current club Al-Rayyan have even stated he isn’t match fit yet. So, those are the reasons why James wasn’t re-called by Colombia.
see also
South American World Cup Qualifiers 2022 Schedule: Matchday 11, 5 and 12
