Coach Reinaldo Rueda has not had many good days since he returned to the technical direction of the Colombian National Team. Sometimes it was the pandemic and its numerous restrictions, which already turned the Qatar 2022 Qualifiers upside down, and other times, as now, the inopportune injuries.
There are 23 days until the team returns to high competition, when it visits Peru (June 3) and receives Argentina (8) with the need to head into a regional tournament that brings back the worst memories, after the last two outings in false (0-3 against Uruguay and 6-1 against Ecuador). And just 33 days for the Copa América to officially start, to be held in Colombia and Argentina.
Next week the national coach will announce his official call for both competitions, but if he had to do it today he would have to do without his three captains: David Ospina, James Rodríguez and Falcao are in the process of recovering from injuries, right all at the time, just when strategies should be reviewed more than medical reports.
James Rodríguez has already been absent for two games at Everton, which is why DT Ancelotti calls a “small problem” … As if the left-hander’s recovery times were small or short. This Thursday there will be a duel against Ason Villa for the Premier and it is not known if he will be, since he was just returning to training this week, in theory.
Falcao was reported this Monday with a back pain that will prevent him from facing Denizlispor, one more absence in Galatasaray. In the midst of the gray panorama, Ospina is also recovering from his discomfort and was on the bench in the last game in Naples (win 1-4 against Spezia) but there is no certainty about whether he will play this Tuesday against Udinese, since Meret has been owning the post.
But beware that there are more patients in the infirmary: Yerry Mina was injured this Sunday, in Everton’s 0-1 victory against West Ham, and although it is said that it is not serious, at this time he is not available. He is the usual partner of Davinson Sánchez as a center-back and his absence worries because he is not the only one. Jeison Murillo had already been reported by Celta as out of action for a month, due to a grade I tear in his left thigh, leaving him out of Playoff matches for now. To complete the picture, Germán Mera, one of those called to Rueda’s only microcycle, was also injured in Junior: he suffered a “first degree sprain in his left ankle, plus a traumatic bone contusion.”
Anything else? Sure. If they had thought about Edwin Cardona, they would have to consider it, since he has barely completed the first two weeks of absolute paralysis, ordered by the Boca Juniors doctors, after reporting a myocarditis that could be a sequel to covid 19, a disease that he contracted and that He was deprived of returning, just after a prolonged absence due to a muscle injury. And Santiago Arias is not recovered, who suffered a fibula fracture and complex ligament injuries in the left ankle with the National Team and who, hopefully, could be for the Copa América, although there are no certainties and in Bayer Leverkusen it still does not count.
So is the infirmary of the Colombian National Team, with full beds with so little to go to compete again. The next time you have questions and concerns, think about how coach Rueda must feel these days …
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