{"id":661959,"date":"2026-05-11T09:35:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T09:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/661959\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T09:35:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T09:35:32","slug":"james-rodriguez-delivers-for-minnesota-united-ahead-of-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/661959\/","title":{"rendered":"James Rodr\u00edguez delivers for Minnesota United ahead of World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a slow start to his spell with Minnesota United FC<\/a>, the Colombian superstar picked up his first two MLS goal contributions in a 2\u20132 draw<\/a> against Austin FC<\/a> on Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire.<\/p>\n

Allianz Field erupted when the 2014 FIFA World Cup<\/a> Golden Boot winner entered the match in the 63rd minute. Almost immediately after stepping onto the field, he assisted\u00a0Anthony Markanich<\/a> with a pinpoint cross, minutes before adding a second helper with a sliced pass to Joaqu\u00edn Pereyra<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI train for all of this. I train well. Day after day, I give everything I have,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez told Apple TV in Spanish after the match. \u201cWhen you get these types of minutes, you have to be ready. So they give you 20, 30, 40 minutes, and you have to be ready to help out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [win] got away from us at the end. I think we could\u2019ve done more in that play, but it was a tie. I think the team is in a very good way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n World Cup awaits<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old Colombian captain has his sights set on this summer’s World Cup, saying he’s set to join Los Cafeteros on May 17. He shut down rumors of a potential post-tournament retirement, which circulated online ahead of Sunday\u2019s match.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only one who knows how long I can play will be me,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez said. \u201cWhen that day comes, I will announce it, but I think I have a few more years left in me. All those things that people say are false.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colombia are in Group K alongside Portugal, DR Congo and Uzbekistan, their opening match opponent on June 17 in Mexico City.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to think about what\u2019s coming. I\u2019ve reached a certain age, and I have to think about everything that\u2019s coming,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be good… if I train well every day, if I take care of my body, then I can play 30, 40 minutes or the whole game. I have to be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a slow start to his spell with Minnesota United FC, the Colombian superstar picked up his first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,100791,59211,16537,93272,24855,561,82,93270],"class_list":["post-661959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-james-rodriguez","tag-match-reaction","tag-minnesota-united-fc","tag-priority-match","tag-sendtonews","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-sunday-night-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}