James Rodríguez’s goal against Peru in the final game of South American World Cup qualifying made sure Colombia would be flying to Russia this summer.
Peru eventually made it through the play-offs where they defeated Oceania qualifiers New Zealand, but James’ strike saved Colombia from this nerve-shredding affair.
It was an opportunist's effort, demonstrating that despite being known for his play-making abilities in the No 10 role, he has an eye for goal to match many strikers, especially when playing for his country.
With qualification assured and all the warm-up friendlies out of the way, Colombia and James are now ready to do the business at the tournament proper.
Four years ago in Brazil, James became the first Colombian to win the World Cup Golden Boot when his six goals saw him top the goal scoring charts. He also scored the goal of the tournament, controlling Abel Aguilar’s headed pass with his chest before lashing a volley off the underside of the bar.
Were it not for the desire to give Lionel Messi some kind of award, James would also have walked away with the Golden Ball award for best player, but he had to settle for a place in the team of the tournament.
Colombia reached the quarter-finals where they were narrowly defeated by Brazil, and to add to their accolades they also won the Fair Play Award.
Going into the 2018 edition on the other side of the world, they are still managed by wily Argentine José Pékerman, now aged 68, and they still have James in their ranks.
At club level James’ career has been a little more uncertain, if not any less impressive. He was signed by galáctico hunters Real Madrid on the back of his performances in Brazil, but despite putting up some good numbers and being a hit with much of the club’s large fanbase (maybe attracting a few more to the club himself), he wound up out of favour with Zinedine Zidane.
Real won the league title in 2016/17, but James started just 13 games, and remained on the bench for the latter stages of the Champions League, and was out of the squad altogether for the final in Cardiff.
It’s for this reason he spent last season on loan at Bayern Munich, where he also spent some time on the bench, but was still able to play a big role in their Bundesliga triumph, racking up 11 assists and seven goals from 19 starts.
He also started both legs of the Champions League semi-final against his parent club, assisting a goal in the first and scoring in the second, but Real were still able to scrape through to the final at Bayern's expense.
But it is on the international stage where James really shines, and on his day there are few better at this level of football. He has 21 goals from his 63 caps which puts him third on Colombia's all-time top scorers list, one ahead of Faustino Asprilla, four behind Arnoldo Iguarán, and eight behind current player and top scorer Radamel Falcao. Not bad considering all the other names in this top four are out-and-out strikers.
His six goals during qualification for this year’s tournament put him on the same tally as Neymar, and one ahead of Luis Suarez in the South American section.
Colombia have been drawn in Group H along with Poland, Japan, and Senegal. On paper this may look easy, but in reality it’s tricky and presents some diverse challenges.
Colombia are favourites to top the group, with Poland the other side tipped to progress, but Senegal have a squad containing one of the best defenders in the world in Kalidou Koulibaly, and one of the best attackers in Sadio Mané, so cannot be taken lightly.
James will have to be at his best if Colombia are to repeat their 2014 performance and maybe even improve on it. The world stage is one where he has typically thrived, and as many fans turn on their TV sets to watch Colombia for the first time in four years, they’ll see the familiar sight of James Rodriguez running the show.
