Néstor Lorenzo once again defended James Rodríguez’s call after Colombia’s 1-0 victory against Spain – credit Reuters
Néstor Lorenzo once again gave a new lesson to face complicated matches and achieve a good result, after beating Spain 1-0 in London and extending the number of unbeaten matches to 20, 17 under his command, and with several players as figures of the meeting.
One of those outstanding men was James Rodríguez, who only needed 45 minutes to demonstrate the reason for being called up and the Argentine coach defended him, due to the criticism that arose due to the midfielder’s lack of continuity in São Paulo in the 2024 season.
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The right-back opened the scoring in the friendly played in London on Friday, March 22 – Viaplay credit
The next challenge will be Romania in Madrid, where it will surely be a new opportunity for the midfielder to continue to silence those comments against and consolidate himself in the Tricolor, in addition to serving to give him more opportunities in Brazilian football ahead of the Cup. Libertadores and the local tournament.
During the press conference at the London Olympic Stadium, coach Néstor Lorenzo defended tooth and nail the call-up of James Rodríguez after the victory against Spain, ensuring that his contribution is very great no matter how much time he is given.
“James is not criticized on his team, he plays little. But he played 11 minutes and Sao Paulo came more than in the previous 80 minutes thanks to James. You know what James can give, it doesn’t surprise me. We hope that he gains rhythm in his team to come to the National Team and perform the 90 minutes, he is going to do it. He feels the National Team in a special way, we all know it,” he stated.
The coach also explained that the reason for the midfielder to enter in the second half was part of the strategy, since that was how the image of the game changed, it gave him more options in attack and he contributed to Daniel Muñoz’s goal.
“James is a great player, different. He was looking for his best form, the ideal was for him to perform for the team here in the second half. He did very well, we told many Spanish media these days. I feel that James has shown it today and whenever he has the opportunity he gives a lot to the national team,” he said.
In addition to the value of James Rodríguez in the Colombia team, the other reason to defend his participation in the match was due to the poor level in the first half of the match, since the team only finished on one occasion and the rival had him cornered in his field.
“I didn’t like the first half, we were late to the pressure and we ran a lot after the ball. We changed the system and it turned out that we improved the second half and we can win,” were the words of Néstor Lorenzo about what happened in those 45 minutes.
Another point that the Argentine touched on is the effort to not lose that good level, to always play in the same way against any rival and not fade away: “A lot of work has been done on that part of being protagonists, of playing against any team as equals. , from you to you.
“Today it was difficult for us in the first half and at times Spain dominated us. The team has worked to get out of those situations successfully and to change tactically and attitude. It is all credit to the boys,” concluded Néstor Lorenzo, who is waiting for the match against Romania, on March 26 in Madrid, to achieve a new victory and finish putting together the roster for the Copa América in the United States.