In Colombia, they also see the match against the Peruvian National Team, scheduled for January 28 in Barranquilla, as crucial in their aspirations to reach the Qatar World Cup. Therefore, the coach of the 'cafetero' team, Reinaldo Rueda, requested at least one friendly match before facing Ricardo Gareca's team.
Thus, on January 16, the 'colochos' will face their counterparts from Honduras in Fort Lauderdale, USA. Since it is not a match in the FIFA dates, Rueda will call up local championship players, as well as players whose performance needs improvement and can attend. James Rodriguez is one such case.
The 31-year-old left midfielder currently plays in Qatari football but has not yet managed to reach the competitive rhythm required by his national team. His last official match was precisely against Paraguay in the last round of qualifiers, in November.
"It is not a FIFA date and what we wanted was to seek mutual convenience, in this case for the Honduran national team and the Colombian national team, to promote our players in atypical dates because there is preseason and most players are doing it with their clubs," explained Ramón Jesurún, president of the Colombian Football Federation.
"It was important, as requested by Coach Rueda, to at least call up some domestic league players and some others who may eventually come to this match, so that we can arrive on the 28th when we will face Peru with some work so that the inactivity during these vacations is not evident," he added.
Regarding James, the Colombian commander indicated that "it is clear, he is part of the plans. There are two or three more players who are on vacation, like those who play in the United States and Mexico, and in some leagues in Europe where there is a break of 25 days. We would also try to borrow those players. We are even optimistic that those players will stay with us for the FIFA dates," he pointed out.