Former World Cup star James Rodriguez will make his home debut Sunday when Minnesota United host the Seattle Sounders in Saint Paul, Minn.
Rodriguez, a 34-year-old midfielder who became an international superstar when he won the Golden Boot for Colombia at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, signed with the Loons (1-2-1, 4 points) on Feb. 6 but missed the team’s first three games with injury and visa issues.
Rodriguez made his MLS debut last Sunday in a 6-0 loss at Vancouver, playing the final 26 minutes and recording one scoring chance.
Minnesota United coach Cameron Knowles wouldn’t tip his hand after practice Saturday on what kind of role Rodriguez would play in Sunday’s contest against Seattle (3-1-0, 9 points).
“We’ll see,” Knowles told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Considering the fact the Loons are coming off their most lopsided loss in 10 seasons, expect it to be a big role. Minnesota, which has allowed a Western Conference-worst 11 goals along with the Portland Timbers, trailed the Whitecaps 5-0 by the time Rodriguez entered the game in the 64th minute.
“It was tough coming on like that,” Rodriguez said. “We were already losing by a lot of goals. But I came on to do my job, which is to try and play well in a few minutes. I think I played well. I personally feel good.”
Rodriguez, who will head off to international duty for Colombia after the game, said he was looking forward to a bounce-back effort on his home turf.
“The good thing is that we’re (playing) at home, to do things the right way to win,” he said.
Seattle will be playing its fifth match in 16 days. The Sounders come in off a 2-1 victory over Vancouver on Wednesday in Spokane, Wash., in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16. They garnered a spot in the quarterfinals with a 5-2 aggregate score win.
Paul Rothrock, who scored the winner in the Sounders’ 1-0 MLS win over San Jose last Sunday, also came off the bench to score the game-winner in Wednesday’s victory in the 83rd minute. It was his fourth goal in five matches in all competitions this season.
“He’s on a roll,” Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer said. “Whether he starts, whether he comes on, I mean, Paul is playing at a really high level.”
This is a rematch of last November’s Round One in the MLS Cup playoff best-of-3 series. That one was decided by a penalty-kick shootout in the 10th round when Loons goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair scored and Seattle keeper Andrew Thomas hit the crossbar on his try.
–Field Level Media
