Featured news from Colombian Soccer
2 hours agoBy: Antonio Casale
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According to Carlo Ancelotti, James Rodríguez missed the game against Chelsea on Saturday with a minor injury: a strained leg. The Colombian could not train during the week. It is the second injury he has suffered in the few months he has been at Everton.
Already last season he was out of practice for 76 days, missing the possibility of being in 14 games with Real Madrid. In the 2018-2019 season he could not be in 20 games nor could he work for 139 days. Muscle problems that are not serious have been the constant in recent years. Only a knee ligament tear, which had it out for 41 days in 2018, can be considered serious. The fact is that the injuries have cost him a lot in his aspirations to have continuity and establish himself in Germany, his return to Spain and now in England.
The first frustrated to miss games like Saturday’s is James himself. A victory as significant as the one achieved against Chelsea, without him on the court, suggests that his team can achieve important goals without the superhero they led to restore his place to the once great Everton.
It is not that he does not start again. His putative father, Ancelotti, will continue to put it on, but as his injuries become repetitive, as happened in Madrid and Munich, the chances of repeating history will increase.
Without James on the court Everton loses magic, but gains in sacrifice, brand and intensity. It is that James fights against modern football, in which the classic 10 every day has less space to play. With players like him there are no half measures: shine or lose the place, but if we add injuries to football, his possibilities are limited.
It is time to work on the source and not on the symptomatic of your injuries. Great athletes have managed to interrupt their losing streaks in physical aspects looking for the root of the matter. Novak Djokovic changed his diet, Mohamed Salah and Neymar implemented yoga, Rafael Nadal found his way out in stem cell treatments, many others in dentistry, some in improving his sleep. Anyway, looking inside himself, James can find answers to what is happening to him physically and incidentally, if he is rigorous, mentally.
Everton’s may be his last chance at elite football, lest James dissolve into the crowd of footballers prematurely.
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