The answer behind James Rodriguez's drop in form starts with Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, according to former Colombia attacker Faustino Asprilla. Deprived of game time at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, things went from bad to worse on international duty for Rodriguez as Los Cafeteros dropped out of the World Cup qualification spots with a 3-0 defeat in Argentina. "Playing with Cristiano Ronaldo is hurting [James], you watch him and see that they don't give him the ball," Asprilla said on ESPN. "Ronaldo doesn't pass the ball to anyone, and now Rodriguez is angry with [Eder Alvarez] Balanta because he didn't pass the ball or something, he's wrong. "Fighting with the opposition or protesting against the referee is normal, but it's ugly when with your teammates. Ronaldo does it every eight days at Real."
In addition, the former Parma man noted how Rodriguez was fortunate to be the main man in an otherwise inexperienced Cafeteros outfit. "He's lucky Colombia are a young team and the players respect him, it wasn't like that when I played for Colombia," Asprilla added.Colombia's 3-0 loss to Argentina on Tuesday evening was notable not just for their dire performance on the pitch, but also James Rodriguez's expletive-laden rant at Gabriel Mercado. As tensions became increasingly frayed, the Sevilla defender's late tackle on the Real Madrid star brought a venomous verbal response from the 25-year-old. "B*stard, son of a b*tch," he shouted.
The Argentine responded by calling James a 'wimp,' with both players promptly booked for their part in the unfortunate incident. James confronts referee in the tunnel after the matchRodriguez's rage also manifested itself in the tunnel as he angrily confronted referee Roddy Zambrano in the immediate aftermath of the game. Pointing and shouting at Zambrano in an aggressive manner, James' dissent earned him a second yellow card in what was clearly a bad day at the office on and off the pitch for the Colombian talisman.
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