Jackson Martinez defended James Rodriguez from those who criticize him: “They think he is arrogant”

Jackson Martínez left a huge mark on the Colombian National Team and the country's football. His enormous career, his great moment in Europe was overshadowed by an injury from which he could not recover and at the age of 34 he said goodbye to football. Now he is dedicated to a musical career, however he follows closely what is happening today in football and Tricolor.

In an interview with ESPN's 'Team F', the former striker of Independiente Medellín, spoke about James Rodríguez, with whom he shared in the Colombia National Team and played the World Cup in Brazil 2014, for Jackson, the '10′ is one of the most important figures of the team and highlighted how great a person he is.

James Rodríguez has not had a good time in recent years, after leaving Bayern Munich, the Colombian returned to Real Madrid where he did not have regularity, so he left for Everton, a team where he played for a season but after the arrival of Rafa Benitez it was known that he would not have the continuity he expected. It was for this reason that he signed with Al Rayyan and decided to play in Qatar football.

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Jackson Martínez praised the '10′ of the Colombia National Team and stated that, “it is someone who, on the court, speaks. In fact, those who haven't had the opportunity to be close to him don't know that he is very competitive and, suddenly, that's what makes them think he's arrogant; what is happening to the first one that hurts, is him,” said Jackson Martinez.

The former attacker also talked about Reinaldo Rueda's team and his lack of goal. The Colombia National Team has not scored since September 9, 2021 when it beat Chile 3-1 in Barranquilla, since then it has played seven matches, scored 646 minutes without scoring, has tied four matches and lost three, in addition to qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar already depends on other results.

On this, Martínez stated that, “I don't think the strikers are suspicious because everyone arrives confidently to the National Team, if I think that the scheme is what can affect the functioning and performance both in the individual and collective part of the players. The coach is not giving things according to the way he planned them and he has believed that they have been able to work.”

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He even mentioned that he does not see any big changes with regard to the work done by the Portuguese coach, Carlos Queiroz, during his time with the Colombia National Team. “I don't see a big change. With the players we have the National Team can be much more daring, it could play to have much more in the technical part. The last match against Argentina was quite hard to watch. With the need for points and seeing the National Team, with the players we have, behind and waiting, when he was able to press the front more and show before a National Team that is qualified and had nothing to lose.”

He also remembered coach José Néstor Pékerman and stated that, “he had a team behind that supported him, but, beyond that, they were the players that were there. I'm not going to compare them, but they were normal technical talks, which I wanted you to focus on what you wanted, hand in hand with a mature selection.”

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