THEY call him ‘H-aa-mez’ and spell it ‘James’.

No matter how much the difference in speaking and writing maybe but James Rodriguez continued his brilliant World Cup on Saturday, scoring both goals as Colombia beat Uruguay 2-0 at the Maracana Stadium to set up a quarter-final against Brazil in Fortaleza on Friday.

Having scored a goal in each of Colombia’s group matches, Rodriguez opened the scoring with a sublime left-footed volley from outside the box in the 26th before adding a second from point-blank five minutes into the second-half to send his side to the last eight for the first time in their history.

Widely considered the natural heir to the legendary Carlos Valderrama, who led Colombia to three World Cups, the 22-year-old has now taken his country further than even the great man managed.

“It’s a historic success,” Rodriguez, for whose services Ligue 1 side Monaco paid £37 million to FC Porto last season, said. “The entire team did well, my team-mates were all crucial. We created many chances due to the speed and pace of the entire team.”

Uruguay had come into the match with their talismanic striker Luis Suarez having been banned for nine matches and sent home following his bite on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in their final group game.

In a tribute to the Liverpool striker, they hung up his shirt in their dressing room even though he was back home in Montevideo.

That, however, couldn’t inspire them as Rodriguez weaved his magic at the Maracana.

Colombia had bossed possession in the opening period as Uruguay failed to tackle the speed of Juan Cuadrado, Juan Zuniga, Jackson Martinez and Rodriguez.

Uruguay seemed to have withstood the opening barrage of pressure but Rodriguez made the breakthrough with one of the goals of the tournament.

Receiving Cuadrado’s header on his chest with his back towards the goal, the Monaco man spun and just as the ball dropped he unleashed a left-footed volley which gave a despairing Fernando Muslera no chance and went in off the underside of the cross-bar.

Uruguay were semi-finalists at the last World Cup in South Africa when they were driven by Diego Forlan, who was named the tournament’s best player.

Forlan had been brought in to deputise for Suarez but he and Edinson Cavani failed to put any pressure on the Colombian backline superbly marshaled by Mario Yepes and Cristian Zapata.

Colombia’s pace kept causing problems and it was another swift attack which led to the second goal.

Martinez found wingback Pablo Armero on the left and Cuadrado leapt highest to turn his cross across the face of goal and into the path of Rodriguez who tucked it in with his right foot.

“I saw the ball Martinez gave to Armero,” Cuadrado said. “I saw there was space and Rodriguez was there in the middle so I nodded it to him. He and Colombia are doing something extraordinary.”

That saw Rodriguez become the tournament’s leading scorer with five goals thus far.

Uruguay now had to reply and coach Oscar Tabarez brought off Forlan for Chritian Stuani and sacrificed full-back Alvaro Pereira for the attack-minded Gaston Ramirez just past the hour mark.

The goal they were searching, though, never came.

In a last throw of the dice, Tabarez sent on another striker — Abel Hernandez — but they never looked like causing any trouble to Jose Pekerman’s side.

“It is obvious that Luis is our main reference, the main player we have and that was felt. But that is not the reason we lost,” Uruguay captain Diego Godin said.

“This group is leaving with its head held high. When you give everything, your soul, your heart and you give yourself for the shirt … people are thankful and Uruguayans are always going to be thankful.”

Colombia had been expected to struggle in the absence of star striker Radamel Falcao, who failed to recover from a knee-injury in time for the World Cup.

But his Monaco team-mate has stepped up spectacularly and was given a standing ovation as he was substituted with five minutes.

Colombian fans chanted ‘H-aa-mez, H-aa-mez’ — the name of their hero — into the night.

Brazil have been warned.

“I just want to help Colombia reach far,” Rodriguez said. “Brazil are a tough team which has great players and a great history but I think we have to go out and win … as we’ve always done.”

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2014