Looking ahead to Tuesday’s Colombia-Paraguay game in the Copa America
Colombia’s victory over the United States in Friday’s Copa America Centenario opener was so clinical, so dominant, the only damage the winners suffered was self-inflicted.
Only time will tell if it was a flesh wound or a critical one.
James Rodriguez, who scored Colombia’s second goal in the 2-0 win, came out of the game in the 73rd minute, five minutes after diving awkwardly and landing hard on his left shoulder following a brush tackle by Michael Bradley. The shoulder is the same one Rodriguez dislocated in a Champions League game in February.
On that occasion, a Real Madrid trainer popped the shoulder back in, allowing Rodriguez to play another 10 minutes. But Colombia team Coach Jose Pekerman is being more cautious, making it unlikely Rodriguez will play in Tuesday’s game with Paraguay at the Rose Bowl (7:30 p.m. PDT, FS1, UniMas, UDN). Organizers expect a crowd of more than 40,000.
“I want to be optimistic. James is very important for Colombia,” Pekerman said after Friday’s game. “We also know he has a lot of desire to play. But I think the medical professionals know to what extent he’ll be running a risk.”
Rodriguez, Colombia’s captain and leading scorer, is the third big-name player to have his Copa America status called into doubt by injury. Uruguay’s Luis Suarez missed his team’s opener Sunday with a strained hamstring and isn’t likely to play until the quarterfinals, if at all. And Lionel Messi, who hurt his back in Argentina’s tune-up game 10 days ago, did not start Monday against Chile.
Colombia’s path to the knockout round seems secure no matter who plays, with the world’s No. 3 team needing only one win in its last two games against Paraguay and Costa Rica to move on. History suggests it will have trouble getting that Tuesday. Although Paraguay has won just two of its last 13 games, it hasn’t lost a group-stage match in the Copa America since 2007. And it made it to the semifinals of the tournament a year ago.
Paraguay opened the Centenario on Saturday by playing Costa Rica to a scoreless draw in Orlando, Fla.
But this tournament is only partly about results for Colombia. Pekerman took the team on a surprising run to the World Cup quarterfinals in 2014, and with the next World Cup two years away, the coach has begun remaking his roster.
“The national team needs renewal,” he said. “We’ve had a very good performance cycle, but we must continue to search for [new] players to get better.”
So the team Pekerman brought to the Centenario is missing 30-year-old Radamel Falco, the team’s all-time leading scorer, and 31-year forward Teofilo Gutierrez. Against the United States, Colombia started five players younger than 25 -- including the 24-year-old Rodriguez -- and used six who had fewer than 18 appearances with the national team.
That rebuilding process will continue with or without Rodriguez -- and so might the winning if goalkeeper David Ospina plays as he did against the United States. Ospina didn’t face a shot in the first half but made two spectacular saves on Clint Dempsey in the second half to preserve the shutout.
