Reinaldo Rueda experienced high and low moments in terms of performance with the Colombian team and ended up moving away from the bench. Years later he spoke about this topic and his relationship with James Rodríguez.
The strategist recognized that there could be another way of doing things and confessed intimate details of what happened at that moment with the ’10’ and captain of the national team.
Reinaldo Rueda expresses his regret for not achieving Colombia’s qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. In a recent interview with the program “Olfato de Gol” with Tomy Arguelles, the former coach of the Colombian National Team shared his feeling of sadness and described the elimination as an “unpublished” episode in his 40-year career.
In addition, he opened the dialogue about his decision not to call up James Rodríguez for the qualifying matches, prioritizing the player’s physical and mental health.
During the interview, Rueda emphasized the positive aspects of the team’s performance, such as recovering balls and creating scoring opportunities, while lamenting the lack of precision in crucial moments of the matches.
He highlighted that the team was one of the teams that recovered the most balls in the opposite field and that it generated numerous plays in the first minutes, but acknowledged that anxiety could have had a negative influence on the team.
“Everything happens in the moment of the player. As I told James, I didn’t want to abuse him or use him. I told him: ‘I prefer that you stop playing 5 games, but that you play 5 more years for the National Team. I prefer that you take a vacation, a mental cleansing”
The former coach also mentioned unfavorable referee decisions and the disallowance of goals that impacted the team’s performance during the Qualifiers.
As for James Rodríguez, Rueda detailed the communication he maintained with the player, explaining the importance of adequate rest for his recovery and to prepare for future competitions.
He stressed that his intention was to take care of the footballer so that he could continue contributing to the Colombian National Team in the long term. Under his direction, James played six games for the national team, five as a starter, and included a penalty goal against Venezuela in his record.
Reinaldo Rueda concluded his speech by pointing out that, despite the setbacks, the experience allowed him to value football even more and reaffirmed his respect for James Rodríguez, calling him a competitive professional and an excellent person. He expressed hope that James can continue to be a crucial figure for the national team in the years to come.
“It is a very strong psychological blow. One’s dream as a coach is to make it to the National Team, both times I made it through merit and because they asked me to, no one helped me due to influence. In 2004 we had done excellent work in youth teams. We were left out of the World Cup in Germany by one point and it was a hard blow. And this last one we had a luxury payroll and we didn’t make it”
Reinaldo and his path as a coach
Reinaldo Rueda’s career in the world of football is extensive and marked by his work in different national teams and club teams. He began his career as a technical director in the world of football in the 1990s, in Colombia, his native country. Among his first positions, his time in the lower divisions of the Colombian team stood out.
At the club level, Rueda has coached teams such as Deportivo Cali and Atlético Nacional in Colombia, with which he won the Copa Libertadores in 2016, reaffirming his profile as a successful strategist on the continental level.
At the international level, he has been the coach of Colombia at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, and led the Honduras and Ecuador teams to the 2010 South Africa and 2014 World Cups in Brazil, respectively. With Honduras he achieved a historic qualification for the World Cup after 28 years of absence from the team in this event.
After his successful period with Atlético Nacional, he assumed the technical direction of the Chile national team, although he failed to qualify the team for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Subsequently, he took the reins of the Colombia national team again in 2020, but was relieved from his position in 2021 after a series of adverse results in the qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Reinaldo Rueda is recognized for his work methodology, his group management skills and his tactical knowledge, which has established him as one of the outstanding coaches in Latin American soccer. With Infobae