World Cup: James Rodriguez Carries Colombia Past Uruguay And In To The Quarterfinals
Monaco and Colombia midfielder James Rodriguez scored a wonderful brace to carry his nation past Uruguay and in to the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup. The youngster has shown his quality throughout the World Cup with three goals in his first three games and a string of man of the match performances in the group stage against Greece and Ivory Coast. He even came on as a substitute against Japan and swung the match in Colombia’s favor.
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Against Uruguay, James Rodriguez was far and away the best player on the pitch. In the midst of a tense first half in which neither team made any real inroads. Uruguay, without their best player Luis Suarez, was content to sit back and absorb the pressure from Colombia and they were tactically sound. In the 28th minute, a cross came in to the top of the Uruguay box and was headed out to Rodriguez who chested it down and smashed it past Fernando Muslera with a sumptuous volley. It was arguably the goal of the tournament so far and it showed the world once more what the youngster is capable of.
James Rodriguez then added to his goal tally to take the lead in the race for the Golden Boot and send his team to the quarterfinals. Juan Cuadrado made a tremendous effort to reach a deep cross and he headed it down in to the center of the Uruguay box. Rodriguez swept it home from close range and it was a simple finish for the midfielder.
After the second goal there was more back and forth action and Uruguay threatened through Maxi Pereira but could never really piece an attack together. They huffed and puffed and threw everything they had at the Colombia defense but David Ospina and the back four stood firm. Uruguay was clearly missing Suarez but still did not put up much of a fight. Colombia moves on to play the hosts in the quarterfinals and are one of the fantastic surprises of the tournament lead by their dynamic young star James Rodriguez.
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