Author Archives: Michael Farias

Other Colombian Players Besides James and Falcao!

We have other players that are also very important and special to the team other than James Rodríguez and Radamel Falcao such as Juan Cuadrado, Juan Quintero, Yerry Mina, and Santiago Arias. When people think of Colombian football, the first name that almost always comes to mind is James Rodríguez and second is Falcao. These other players are also very special and important to the team. If it were not for these players James and Falcao would not have anyone to support them and let them work their magic.

Colombia VS Uruguay

 

This is probably the second most historic match that Colombia ever played. This match took place on June 28, 2014 in the round of 16 for the world cup Brasil 2014. This match was played in the historic Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro. This match was decided by two goals from James Rodriguez one being the voted the best goal of the tournament. This match was so special because for the first time ever, Colombia qualified for the quarter-finals in a world cup.

Here are some match highlights.

Why is Football So Popular in Colombia?

 

I cannot give a definite answer to this question but I can make an attempt and explain what my theory is. I believe that the sport is so popular in Colombia because it is so popular in the other South American countries. Football is basically life in South America and one of the main reasons behind this is that football is such an affordable sport to play. In sports such as baseball and hockey one needs to pay for equipment such as bats and hockey sticks that can be pretty expensive. To play football all one needs is a ball and that’s it. You don’t even need shoes to play! I believe that this and the fact that every other South American country is football crazy are the reasons that football is so popular in Colombia. All of the South American countries communicate with each other when we play against each other. When one country wins against another, the fans from the country that won will almost always declare that their country is better just because of a football match. This may sound crazy but we are very happy and we find it very fun to be a little over competitive when it comes to football. We also always cheer for our fellow South American brothers and sisters when they face teams from other continents. We do support each other a lot.

Argentina VS Colombia 1993

On September 5, 1993 during the world cup qualifiers for the 1994 world cup in the United States, Argentina and Colombia were to play a match in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. This was a very anticipated match because both teams were very strong but Argentina has always had a massive footballing history. They had already won the world cup on two different occasions. The match ended 0-5 in favor of Colombia, leading this to be the most historic match ever played by the Colombian team.

 

This match was so special for us because we beat a great team with a great history in the sport in their own home by five goals. This result allowed the team to communicate with the other top teams letting them know that Colombia is no joke. This message was definitely received because Colombia all of a sudden Colombia became one of the favorites to win the cup but rather was eliminated early.

Here are some match highlights.

Who is Radamel Falcao?

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Radamel Falcao is a very special player for Colombia because he is a great example of never giving up. Falcao is currently 32 years old and plays as a striker for the French club, AS Monaco. He is commonly refered to as “El Tigre” (the tiger) for his goal scoring abilities. He is past his prime but he is still scoring plenty of goals in France. He lived the best days of his career when he was playing for Atlético Madrid from 2011 to 2013. He was signed by Monaco for the 2013-2014 season, the season right before the 2014 world cup in Brasil. Falcao like many other players had always dreamed of playing in the world cup and was the key factor for Colombia qualifying for the tournament after the nation went three consecutive world cups without qualifying. Unfortunately he sustained a torn ACL during the season and was ruled out of the world cup. Colombia had to go into the tournament without the star player but didn’t prove to be a problem because Falcao’s teammate James Rodríguez ended up being the cup’s breakout star. When Falcao finally returned to full fitness moths after the injury he was loaned out to English team Manchester United. Falcao may have recovered physically but psychologically he wasn’t ready to play and only managed to score four goals the whole season. Next season he was shipped out to Chelsea FC in London where he scored only one goal the whole season. This was a tough time for Falcao especially because he was off of the Colombian national team for a while but the following season, he managed to turn it around when he went back to Monaco. We saw “El Tigre” again and he showed us why we should never give up and that nothing is impossible. Falcao communicates the message of how important hard work and dedication is to achieving one’s dreams.

Here are some of Falcao’s goals

Why is Colombia only known for drugs?

Ever since the days of Pablo Escobar and the drug cartels in the late 80’s and early 90’s, Colombia has earned itself a reputation for drugs. When I tell people that I am Colombian I am almost always asked if Im a drug dealer. Fortunately, the nation now has much more to offer because we have advanced from those darker days. Footballs has been something that has helped us passed this dark time and get recognized by the rest of the world for something other than drugs. With players like Radamel Falcao and James Rodríguez representing Colombia, the country has been able to get a more positive view from the rest of the world.

How communication is important in football

Football to me is a language in of itself and players have different ways of understanding the playing styles of others. In Colombia we play football the South American way. We play a style that is slow compared to the European way, and is beautiful to watch. We like to do things like fancy tricks and complicated passes but how do the Colombian players communicate with European teammates at club level?

We have James Rodríguez who plays for FC Bayern Munich in Germany. The German style of playing is very different from the Colombian style but he manages to adapt very well. James is one of the two South American players the team has, the other being Brazilian fullback, Rafinha. That being said, he still has a great understanding with his teammates especially with German international, Thomas Müller. Also Colombian striker Radamel Falcao is one of the few south Americans in his club in France, AS Monaco. Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado has a great understanding with his European teammates in Italian club, Juventus.

 

We can see football is a form of communication and that players must be able to communicate in order to get results. The objective in football is to score goals and they are best achieved through good communication between teammates. One player gives a pass and the intended receiver should know exactly where the ball is going to go. That is excellent communication.

James Rodríguez and the media

The media is a big part in the life of a football player or anyone who is famous for that matter but we will focus on football players. The way that the media portrays a particular player is very important to that player’s career. If the media portrays a player in a positive way, than everything is good and the player will have the fans behind him. However if the media does not portray the player in a positive way, then the player will have a lot of problems with the fans and this could even result in the player being benched. The image of a player is very important to a team so if he doesn’t have a good image, he will most likely see a lot of time on the bench.

 

To tie this into Colombian football players, it is important to see how the media has affected them, particularly how the media practically forced James Rodríguez out of the Spanish club Real Madrid CF. After the world cup in 2014 in Brasil, James was signed by the Spanish giants, Real Madrid where he stayed for three seasons.  During his first season James was spectacular scoring seventeen goals playing in the heart of midfield under former Italian manager, Carlo Ancelotti. Ancelotti was fired at the end of the season and was replaced by Spaniard coach, Rafa Benítez. Things didn’t go so well for James under Benítez. He was struggling to convince the coach to play him. This led to the media speculating a bad relationship between the two. This also led to other medias saying that James was out of shape and that he was getting fat. Here is James responded to such claims.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3415346/Real-Madrid-star-James-Rodriguez-p-s-people-doubt-say-m-fat.html

 

Midway through the season Benítez was fired due to poor results and French manager Zinedine Zidane took over at Real Madrid, which made things worse for James. James worked under Zidane for one and a half seasons and did not manage to play much, this lead to more speculation from the media. The Real Madrid fans began to jeer James at the stadium. Fortunately with a couple of good performances he got the fans back on his side but never got the playing time he wanted under Zidane. This led James to sign a two year loan agreement with German giants, FC Bayern Munich. The media wasn’t very nice to James in his last two years in the Spanish capital and was part of the reason for his departure.

Who is James Rodríguez?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jcesar17/6232572656/in/photolist-Hi157A-p8AeNo-MXrkcJ-Myk729

James Rodríguez (Hamez Rodriguez) is one of the biggest or if not the biggest Colombian star to ever play for the national team. One thing that many may not know about him is that he had a big stuttering problem when he was young and had to go to a speech therapist. Even today his stutter is still very noticeable during interviews. He is better at communicating with his football than through a microphone.

 

James is currently 27 years old and is an attacking midfielder who plays for the German club FC Bayern Munich. He has played in many clubs during his career including the European giant Real Madrid CF. The only team that James is truly committed to and can never change is the Colombian national team. He started playing for the team in 2011. He was very important to the qualification to the 2014 world cup in Brasil but even more important during the tournament. He scored six goals in the five games that Colombia played including a stunning volley against Uruguay in the 16thround, securing Colombia’s place in the quarter finals for this first time in the nation’s history. He finished as the tournaments top scorer and won the award for best goal of the year for his volley against the Uruguayans. He was the most important player during the qualifiers for the 2018 world cup. During the tournament James was only able to play one full game due to injuries. He made the most of it providing two assists in an important 3-0 win against Poland, one of them being described as many as the assist of the tournament although it is not a formal award.

 

James is the face of our national team and he is our Colombian pride because he represents us well in Europe and to the world. We communicate a lot through him and many people who are not from Colombia identify James as Colombia. This is a big step up from being identified through Pablo Escobar. Football and James have helped the nation communicate better things about Colombia after the Escobar era.

Here is a link to some of the greats goals and assists by James Rodríguez.

Colombia’s Footballing History

The national football team of Colombia very often goes by the nickname Los Cafeteros (the coffee brewers). The team played its first game in 1938 in a 3-1 loss against México at the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games. During the early years, Colombia was never a team that was well respected or feared by the world’s top teams. It wasn’t until the 1990’s, otherwise known as the golden era, that team began to shine. A team that was led by now legendary players such as Carlos “El Pibe” Valderrama, Faustino Asprilla, and René “El Loco” Higuita gave the national team some prestige. The team’s most historic match was a game against Argentina in the 1994 world cup qualifiers in Buenos Aires. The game ended in a 0-5 win for the cafeteros. The team entered the 1994 world cup as one of the favorites to win, but ultimately flopped and faced early elimination. In 2001, Colombia hosted the Copa América (a tournament between the South American national teams plus two invited guests) and won the tournament. This is the only trophy Colombia ever won. Then came the depression era where Colombia failed to qualify for three consecutive world cups. The team ended this by qualifying for the 2014 world cup in Brasil and making it to the quarter finals with a team led by today’s star, James Rodríguez. This was Colombia’s best run ever in a world cup. Colombia then qualified for the 2018 world cup in Russia but went out in the 16thround losing to England in a penalty shootout. In Colombia football is a passion and we communicate to the rest of the world with our football and our national team.