By: Daniel Duque

Photo of James Rodriguez
Photo courtesy of Sportsnet

James Rodriguez is a Colombian soccer player who is recognized for his outstanding performance during the 2014 Brazil World Cup where he scored six goals being the top striker of the competition. This caused the top teams from Europe to put an eye on the Colombian player and consider him as a new player in their squad. However, Rodriguez experienced a decrease in his performance which resulted in many injuries and little playtime in the various teams he played on. The constant poor performances from Rodriguez led to the Colombian national team not calling him for any games.

Brazil 2014

James Rodriguez celebrating his first goal against Uruguay.
Photo courtesy of The Epoch Times

James Rodriguez was part of the Colombian national team squad that traveled to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Due to the absence of striker Radamel Falcao because of an injury, Rodriguez was a key player for every game in the competition.

During the group stage Colombia was matched against Greece, Ivory Coast and Japan. The Colombian squad won all three games giving them a ticket to the Round of 16. Rodriguez scored three goals during this stage.

For the round of 16 Colombia was matched against Uruguay, which was considered a tough rival. During the first half of the match Rodriguez scored the first goal which was considered as the best goal of the year 2014. The second half had another goal scored by Rodriguez which qualified Colombia to the quarter-finals.

The host of the competition, Brazil was the rival to beat during the quarter-finals. Despite being a balanced game and both teams attacking as much as possible, Brazil beat Colombia with a result of 2-1 eliminating the latter from the competition. Rodriguez scored a penalty kick during this match which awarded him the golden boot at the end of the competition.

Real Madrid

After his outstanding performance in the World Cup, many powerful teams wanted to include Rodriguez in their squad, but it was Spanish giant Real Madrid, the club which had the best offer for the Colombian player. Real Madrid offered AS Monaco, Rodriguez' former team, 63 million pounds on a six-year deal.

Under the lead of Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, Rodriguez was frequently seen on the field helping Real Madrid win matches. Rodriguez scored his first goal for the team on Aug. 19, 2014 against Atletico Madrid during the first match of the Spanish Super Cup entering as a substitute for Cristiano Ronaldo. Rodriguez scored his first goal in the 2014-2015 Spanish league season during an 8-2 away win against RC Deportivo. At the end of his first season, Rodriguez scored a total of 17 goals and provided 18 assists which awarded him a spot on the top 11 players of that season.

After coach Ancelotti left his role as Real Madrid's manager. Spanish coach Rafael Benitez replaced the latter, giving Rodriguez less playtime. Despite scoring goals for his team, Benitez kept the Colombian player as a part-time starter during most of the 2015-2016 league season and Champions League. Injuries did not help either; in September of 2015 Rodriguez suffered an injury during a friendly match between Colombia and Peru leaving him out for a month. Under Benitez, James played 14 less games than he did in the previous season.

In January of 2016 Rafael Benitez was removed from his manager role after a streak of negative results. Former Real Madrid French player Zinedine Zidane was brought in to replace Benitez. Zidane gave less minutes to Rodriguez. During the 2016-2017 season the Colombian had 22 appearances in which he provided 11 goals and 13 assists. However, he failed to receive more playing time.

Bayern Munich

After not receiving the playtime he was looking for, Rodriguez asked for a loan to move to a different team. In July of 2017, German club Bayern Munich offered the club a two-year loan for the midfielder for 11.4 million pounds with a buying option of 37 million pounds. At Bayern, Rodriguez reunited with his former manager Carlo Ancelotti who was now in charge of the German club.

Rodriguez experienced different injuries during the pre-season which did not let the Colombian player show his true potential. However, when the season started he was able to show a good performance. In October of 2017, Ancelotti was replaced by coach Jupp Heynckes. Rodriguez finished the 2017-2018 season with 23 appearances and seven goals.

During the 2018-2019 season coach Niko Kovac was brought in to lead Bayern Munich. Kovac gave Rodriguez less playtime but the Colombian managed to score seven goals during that season. The two-year loan deal was coming to an end and the German club had no plans of buying the midfielder. No other clubs made offers for Rodriguez during that time meaning he had to return to Real Madrid. Rodriguez would leave Bayern with 14 goals scored.

Return to Real Madrid

When Rodriguez returned to the Spanish Club, coach Zidane had just returned to take place as manager after being absent for two seasons. The French had no plans to include Rodriguez in the starting line-ups. Rodriguez only made eight appearances during the 2019-2020 Spanish league season with no goals scored. He was planning to move to the English Premier League.

Everton

In September of 2020, James Rodriguez made his move to Everton from the English Premier League after a 22 million pounds deal with Real Madrid. The Colombian midfielder would once again meet with coach Ancelotti who was leading Everton when he arrived.

Rodriguez would show a good performance during the league's opening game for the season which ended with a 1-0 win against West Ham. Rodriguez scored three goals in five games showing a good performance and delighting the Everton fans who were in need of a scoring player. Unfortunately, after the first weeks of the league's season, Everton started to underperform and Rodriguez was not showing the level from the first games.

James celebrating one of his goals with Everton.
Photo courtesy of Sports Mole

Multiple injuries and fitness problems made Rodriguez miss out on many games that season. Rodriguez was increasingly absent during important matches which made Everton fans question if Rodriguez was really the player their team needed. The poor level Rodriguez was showing at his new club and the injuries he had to deal with, caused the Colombian national team's coach not to call him for the World Cup qualifier games that took place during the first half of 2021.

For the 2021-2022 season, Ancelotti left for Real Madrid being another of his former managers, Benitez, the replacement for that season. According to Sky Sports, James wanted to leave Everton before Ancelotti's departure.

Benitez gave Rodriguez no playtime which worsened the relationship between the two. Everton fans were devastated to see the downfall of Rodriguez, who showed a good level and was an important player for the team during the first weeks of the 2020-2021 season.

In September of 2021 Rodriguez would leave Everton to join a not well-known club from Qatar's league, Al-Rayyan. He left the English club with six goals scored.

Al-Rayyan
After his departure of Everton, Rodriguez was signed for Qatari club Al-Rayyan which was the player's first experience outside of Europe. Rodriguez received his first minutes during a league match against Lekhwiya. However, he could not prevent the 3-0 defeat his team suffered. Rodriguez has received more minutes in his new club and so far he has been showing a good level, he scored his first goal during a league match against Al-Sailiya. Recently, Colombia's coach Reinaldo Rueda called him for the World Cup qualifier matches that will take place during the second half of November. His future performances in this club will determine if he will stay in the Colombian national team where he was a starting player in every match.

Will James Rodriguez recover the level that once made him an outstanding player? Let his game decide.

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