IN the absence of Radamel Falcao, the spotlight turns to midfield maestro James Rodriguez to lead Colombia brilliantly into the knockout stage in Brazil with three goals thus far.

After a slow start to life at Monaco, Rodriguez shone in his first season in France, where he was named to the Ligue 1 team of the season following his tally of nine goals and 12 assists that helped the principality club to a second-place finish.

Nicknamed ‘El Nuevo Pibe’ (the new kid), a nod to the original ‘El Pibe’ Carlos Valderrama, there are in truth few similarities bet­ween the two, neither in playing style nor appearance, but the more direct and forward-thinking Rod­riguez has definitely emer­ged as one of Colombia’s star performers.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2014