Sports
James Rodriguez is lighting up Copa America and at the heart of Colombia's incredible run
Nestor Lorenzo often has a neat way of summing things up. Asked about the enigmatic James Rodriguez before a crunch match with Brazil on Tuesday, Colombia’s smooth-talking coach delivered once again.
“Now he runs a little less, but he thinks a little more. It’s good for him. He’s well surrounded, and that’s what’s making him play well.”
Already, after just three games at the 2024 Copa America, the 32-year-old Rodriguez has created 11 chances for team-mates — more than any other player in the tournament — and laid on three assists. If it wasn’t for the merciless line-drawing of the video assistant referee (VAR) halfway through a thrilling first half against Brazil in Santa Clara, California, last night, he would have made it four.
“I know the love he has for the jersey, his commitment for the national team,” continued Lorenzo, “and that’s why I trusted him.”
Rodriguez’s involvement with the Colombian national team has not been assured in recent years, missing out on the 2021 Copa America squad as his club form continued to wander. Now at Brazilian side Sao Paulo, fitness and form have allowed him to play just under 700 league minutes in 12 months.
Nonetheless, Lorenzo has found a place for Rodriguez’s technical ability to breathe in a 4-3-1-2 system, pulling the strings in a positionally fluid role behind the two strikers. Hard-runners and tough-tacklers Jefferson Lerma and Richard Rios can do the dirty work in midfield, leaving the No 10 free to combine with the intelligent Jhon Arias, pick out the relentless channel runs of Luis Diaz, or look to the box for bustling centre-forward Jhon Cordoba.
With the freedom to roam into pockets of space, Rodriguez will react to the game in front of him. As we can see from the graphic below, he likes to drop into the build-up phase and collect the ball from the centre-backs, particularly against the aggressive low-blocks of Paraguay and Costa Rica, who worked hard to close down his preferred spaces in midfield during the first two group matches.
Things were more open in the 1-1 draw against Brazil, allowing him to stray into dangerous areas in the right half-space, where he did not hesitate to cut inside and find his team-mates. Once in those areas, his delivery has been consistently inch-perfect.
One of the last contributions to his lock-picking clinic against Brazil was to create the following opportunity for Cordoba from exactly that space.
With that extra thinking time mentioned by Lorenzo — created as he peels out wide to receive the pass — Rodriguez picks out a perfectly-judged cross that drops right on the six-yard line, sailing over the defenders and landing on his striker’s head.
Seven of his 11 chances created for team-mates in this tournament have come from dead-ball deliveries, and with his ability to judge the weight of his passes, it is clear to see why. Something about how Rodriguez floats the ball in — the almost leisurely way of sending it looping and spinning towards goal, leaving it hanging in the air just long enough to nail the goalkeeper to his line — makes each cross incredibly easy to attack.
For the disallowed ‘equaliser’, look how close Davinson Sanchez is to goal when he makes contact. The delivery is lofted over the defensive line but is not too high to allow the goalkeeper to come and claim the ball.
From corners, too, Rodriguez constantly delivered the ball to the edge of the six-yard box. On this occasion, it is Cordoba again who heads over the crossbar.
Such is the quality and consistency of these crosses, that he will trot over to take any Colombia set piece, anywhere on the pitch, to a raucous reception from their fans in the crowd.
Rodriguez can switch it up too. Early in the first half against Brazil, he grazed the bar with a vicious free kick, the ball dipping and swerving as it careered over the wall.
He also sent a shot flying towards Alisson’s near post from a crossing position. Strolling up to the ball, leaning back, he suddenly closed his body and wrapped his foot around the ball, forcing the goalkeeper to scramble back and push a spinning shot over the top.
There is finesse and firepower in his left boot.
Despite what Lorenzo’s summary may suggest, Rodriguez is not low-intensity by any stretch; only Brazil defender Marquinhos had more touches last night in the San Francisco 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium, while the four tackles he put in could only be bettered by his team-mate Daniel Munoz.
Even if he has lost a yard of pace as he prepares to turn 33 in just over a week’s time, Rodriguez’s appetite for the national team keeps him on the move.
(Winslow Townson/Getty Images)
“He is a player that we have to mark closely,” said Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes before the game, “someone will always have to keep an eye on him.”
Colombia are now 26 games unbeaten and head into their quarter-final against Panama in Glendale, Arizona, on Saturday as strong favourites to make that 27.
Rodriguez has been the beating heart of that historic streak and is offering the world one final glimpse of his galactico days at Real Madrid.
GO DEEPER
Copa America 2024 quarterfinals bracket: Full knockout stage schedule
(Top photo: Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
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Croatia thought their FIFA World Cup hopes were still alive when they scored the game-tying goal just before the end of stoppage time in the second half.
But a VAR review said Mario Pasalic was offside, and it was Portugal moving on instead.
Gonçalo Ramos’ goal just minutes earlier — a beautiful header into the back of the net in the 94th minute — was the decider in this 2-1 victory for Portugal. And it was only the second time in Portuguese World Cup history the nation needed to come from behind to win, underscoring its resilience on the sport’s biggest stage.
Luka Modric of Croatia and teammates react after the 1-2 loss during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match between Portugal and Croatia at Toronto Stadium on July 2, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario. (Patrick Smith – FIFA)
It was a controversial ending, though, and one where Croatia tried to argue the ball never hit the head of Igor Matanovic, which made Pasalic offside during VAR review.
It’s also worth noting that a new chip within the ball shows when it is touched, giving more concrete evidence to the referee’s final decision in such a crucial time of the match. This was the 10th goal overruled by VAR thus far in the World Cup.
GABRIEL MARTINELLI’S 96TH-MINUTE GOAL RESCUES BRAZIL FROM JAPAN UPSET IN WORLD CUP ROUND OF 32
So, with the goal annulled, Croatia’s time at the tournament has ended. As a result, Croatian legend Luka Modrić is finishing his fifth World Cup, which will likely be the 40-year-old midfielder’s final one.
But another older legend on the pitch will move on, as Cristiano Ronaldo made some World Cup history during this match.
When No. 7 stepped foot on the pitch and the ball was kicked, he became the oldest player to participate in a knockout stage match at the World Cup at 41 years and 147 days old. He also became the oldest player to score in a knockout stage match when he saw a penalty situation while Portugal was down 1-0 in the match.
Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal celebrates after scoring his team’s first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match between Portugal and Croatia at Toronto Stadium on July 2, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario. (Patrick Smith – FIFA)
Ivan Perisic got the first goal of this game and put Portugal’s back against the wall. But after a foul was committed inside Croatia’s box in the 67th minute, it was time for Ronaldo to get his first career knockout goal, and he didn’t disappoint.
Ronaldo was ecstatic, sprinting toward the corner flag and performing his signature “SIU!” celebration, which the crowd bellowed with the score at 1-1. Ronaldo had also seemed to get that first knockout goal just minutes earlier but he was called offside.
Modrić and Ronaldo, two former teammates on Real Madrid, also made history together, as they were the first two players 40 years or older to play in the same match together.
Luka Modric of Croatia congratulates Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal after the 2-1 win during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 match between Portugal and Croatia at Toronto Stadium on July 2, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario. (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
It was also an emotional moment after the match, as Ronaldo wore the jersey of late Portugal teammate Diogo Jota, who died in a car accident a year ago. A team photo was taken on the pitch, with Ronaldo holding up Jota’s jersey alongside his squad.
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Now that the job is done in the Round of 32 for Portugal, they face a big challenge against a key rival in the Round of 16.
Spain, who dominated Austria with a 3-0 finish earlier on Thursday, awaits Portugal at Dallas Stadium on July 6 at 3 p.m. ET.
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Roki Sasaki’s abysmal appearance faded away in the Dodgers’ 12-7 win over the San Diego Padres on Thursday night, but only after the National League West leaders rose from a catatonic first inning.
The Dodgers roared back from a 6-0 deficit as Andy Pages skirted a tying double down the left-field line, and Mookie Betts and Max Muncy each drove in runs to give them the lead for good in a four-run fourth inning. All of which sent the sold-out Dodger Stadium crowd into jubilant celebrations, some jumping, others breaking out World Cup chants.
“Thankfully, it played out the way I didn’t expect,” manager Dave Roberts said of the team’s ability to turn the game around, “or the way it started.”
By the time the game ended, Sasaki’s three-inning start seemed like a murky nightmare the Dodgers awoke from in a sweat. Except the Dodgers weren’t dreaming, and the team hadn’t done much to assuage the concerns with Sasaki.
The problem with Sasaki isn’t his stuff. On his best nights, when the velocity and command combine, Sasaki blows past batters with a triple-digit fastball and cutting off-speed pitches. The problem has been how to tick the radar without making the strike zone look like a Jackson Pollock painting — and recently, it has.
Sasaki’s June swoon, impervious to the calendar change, continued into Thursday’s series opener against the Padres, in which the right-hander gave up three home runs among seven hits before Roberts called it quits going into the fourth inning.
“They were on everything,” Roberts said. “You could see it.”
One possible concern? Tipping pitches. While Roberts and catcher Dalton Rushing said the team would need to do more research into Sasaki’s start, both left the door open to this answer.
“That would be a big explanation as to how they felt like they were on every pitch,” Rushing said.
As San Diego chugged through its lineup, Sasaki struggled to keep up. With his first pitch, he gave up a double to Fernando Tatis Jr., who scored on Manny Machado’s home run that left center fielder Pages staring at the ball’s path as it plopped down on the other side of the blue outfield fence.
The inning was only a preview of the Padres’ power. Each of the nine San Diego batters got his chance against Sasaki in the second, and the team quickly dug the Dodgers into a six-run hole. He surrendered two home runs in the second inning. Jackson Merrill blasted a ball to left-center field leading off, and, two outs later, Jake Cronenworth drove in two runs with a shot to right-center.
Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo that he needed to work on his command, but he felt like his fastball was good.
Roki Sasaki has his head down after giving up a solo homer to Jackson Merrill in the second inning.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“I don’t think my stuff was bad today,” Sasaki said. “Overall, it wasn’t great but a lot of things evolved.”
Part of Sasaki’s issue lies with his approach. Roberts said he wants the second-year pitcher to be aggressive, to play the cat-and-mouse game required to beat batters in the box. But when given the opportunity, Sasaki has shrunken in recent outings, struggling with his command and his ability to pitch deep into games.
“We had a great May, so let’s just get back to competing and making pitches,” Roberts said.
When reliever Will Klein walked out to the mound in the fourth to the aggressive, rambunctious clamor of the Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” and collected two scoreless, one-hit innings, the relief was immediate: The Dodgers took the lead.
The lineup already was revving, as Rushing homered in the second inning while Sasaki was still in the game, and both Kyle Tucker and Muncy drove in runs off starter Randy Vasquez in the third, cutting the deficit to two. The Dodgers broke through against the Padres’ bullpen to score six runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
“The bullpen was fantastic tonight, and then the offense came up big,” Roberts said.
A late catch by Pages helped close out the game after he gloved a ball despite ramming into the padding of the center field wall. A combined effort by Paul Gervase and Tanner Scott shut down San Diego’s ninth-inning momentum after it pushed across a run.
“Turned back around, was able to find the ball and make a really good catch right there,” Tucker said of Pages. “That was a huge out.”
The Dodgers (57-31) beat their division rivals for the fifth time in seven games to open a 13-game lead over both San Diego and Arizona. The Padres, meanwhile, have lost six straight and given up 66 runs over the last six days, the most in such a span in franchise history.
But San Diego’s flaws don’t negate the Dodgers’ as they burned through six relievers in their win. So, while the Dodgers crawled out of the hole with a season-high 17 hits, the steep cost heightens the pressure on the rest of the rotation the rest of the series.
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In previous years, the Round of 16 was the first knockout stage match, but with an expanded field of 48 teams— it is now the second.
Let’s check out the odds at FanDuel Sportsbook as of July 2 for which countries are favored to make the Round of 16 and emerge from it.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
To Reach Round of 16
Argentina: -2000 (bet $10 to win $10.50 total)
Colombia: -550 (bet $10 to win $11.82 total)
Portugal: -340 (bet $10 to win $12.94 total)
Switzerland: -235 (bet $10 to win $14.26 total)
Egypt: -148 (bet $10 to win $16.76 total)
Australia: +122 (bet $10 to win $22.20 total)
Algeria: +186 (bet $10 to win $28.60 total)
Croatia: +260 (bet $10 to win $36 total)
Ghana: +380 (bet $10 to win $48 total)
Cape Verde: +1160 (bet $10 to win $126 total)
Now let’s check out the odds at FanDuel Sportsbook as of July 2 for the matchups already in place.
SATURDAY, JULY 4
Canada vs. Morocco
To Advance: MAR -300, CAN +225
Moneyline: MAR -130, Draw +240, CAN +420
Paraguay vs. France
To Advance: FRA -1800, PRY +1140
Moneyline: FRA -600, Draw +600, PRY +1800
SUNDAY, JULY 5
Brazil vs. Norway
To Advance: BRA -245, NOR +196
Moneyline: BRA -120, Draw +260, NOR +340
Mexico vs. England
To Advance: ENG -134, MEX +110
Moneyline: ENG +145, Draw +210, MEX +200
MONDAY, JULY 6
USA vs. Belgium
To Advance: USA -110, BEL -110
Moneyline: USA +165, Draw +230, BEL +170
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