Rodriguez to take 11th-hour fitness test
Striker to be assessed shortly before kick-off Pekerman: Colombia at same level as England
in Moscow
James Rodriguez has been given until the last possible moment to prove his fitness for Colombia’s last16 game against England tonight.
Colombia’s manager, Jose Pekerman, said he might not know until an hour before kick-off whether his star player would be able to start tonight’s game. The Brazil 2014 Golden Boot winner, who has been nursing a calf injury all tournament, played no part in the opening 15 minutes of their training session at the Spartak Stadium yesterday.
Rodriguez was instead limited to floor exercises on the touchline – although it was unknown whether he joined his team-mates for the rest of the session, which was behind closed doors. Pekerman said: “I will tell you who will be in the starting XI tomorrow – one hour before the game. That’s when we’ll know how everybody’s feeling.”
He added of Rodriguez: “We still have one and a half days to see how he feels and, as always, we hope, of course, that he will be able to play for the following games.”
Rodriguez’s importance to Colombia cannot be overstated. He rescued them from the threat of an early exit with two stunning assists in a 3-0 win over Poland in their second Group H game, having only been deemed fit enough to start their opening defeat against Japan on the bench.
The Real Madrid forward, who spent last season on loan at Bayern Munich, then limped out of Thursday’s victory over Senegal that sent them through to the knockout stages. Should he not be passed fit today, even more will be expected of Colombia’s other talisman, Radamel Falcao, who has recaptured the form that made him one of the most feared strikers on the
Falcao: ‘I didn’t shine as I wanted when in England, that’s true. But that’s part of the past’
planet. The 32-year-old will have a point to prove to English football fans after flopping badly during year-long loan spells at Manchester United and Chelsea. “I didn’t shine as I wanted in England, that’s true. But that’s part of the past, you know,” said Falcao, who is actually one-eighth English.
The striker’s great-grandfather was from Selby, Yorkshire, and he could even have played for England had he not been denied a British passport aged 13 after his father applied for one to help secure his son a move to Europe.
Falcao, who said tonight’s game was a match he “always dreamt to play”, added: “I only can say that it’s beautiful to be here, to be able to play against England.”
Pekerman played down Colombia’s reliance on Rodriguez and Falcao, saying: “Those two players are really important. But I think that Colombia has a lot of potential as a team. We can grow. We can develop. We have already developed. And we are a very strong opponent, as we have been over the last years.
“So, we have come to this World Cup hoping to do what we already did in Brazil: play a good tournament and show that we’re at the same level of the favourite teams such as England.”
If England need to be wary of Falcao, Colombia’s captain, then the same is true for Colombia after Harry Kane ended the group stage in pole position to win the Golden Boot. Warning his players they needed to deny Kane “any opportunity”, Pekerman said: “He is one of the top scorers in the world, so we need to be careful about him. When you have a forward like him, it is very difficult to stop him.”
Unlike England, who qualified from Group G with a game to spare and rested almost their entire firstchoice XI in their third match, Colombia “suffered a lot” reaching the knockout stage, according to their manager. The Argentinian said that was “obviously an advantage” for England but added: “We have played very tough matches up until now, decisive matches, which has made us stronger. So we’re very self-confident and we think this can compensate the fact the other team has been able to rest more.”
If Colombia win tonight, they will never have a better chance of reaching a World Cup final.
Falcao said: “This World Cup has shown that teams are very balanced nowadays in the world. Those huge differences we used to see before don’t exist any more.”