Will James Rodríguez play for Colombia against Ecuador? What injury does he have?

Former Real Madrid playmaker James Rodríguez has been a mainstay of the Colombia national team for as long as many of us can remember, making his senior debut at the age of 20, winning the Golden Boot at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and captaining his country since the Copa América Centenario in 2016. Now 32, the São Paolo star is hoping to play in a third World Cup with Los Cafeteros and appears to have regained his place in the starting line-up after beginning the 2026 qualifying campaign as a substitute. That, however, could change once again in Tuesday’s clash against Ecuador.

Colombia unbeaten in World Cup 2026 qualification

Colombia have made an undefeated start to qualification, beating Venezuela in their opening match before drawing in Chile and at home to Uruguay last week. They are third in a 10-team group after three games, four points behind leaders Argentina and two adrift of Brazil, although they will feel aggrieved not to be a couple of points better off after conceding an injury-time equaliser to Liverpool’s Darwin Nuñez against the Uruguayans.

A goal and an assist for Rodríguez against Uruguay

Rodríguez’s role in Néstor Lozano’s current team has become increasingly prominent in each of the three games played so far, with cameo appearances off the bench against Venezuela (15 minutes) and Chile (32 minutes) in September’s matches, before which he had had relatively little game time with São Paolo.

However, he was back in the starting line-up and with the captain armband’s on for Thursday’s qualifier at home to Uruguay and made his mark in his 81 minutes on the field, scoring his team’s opening goal in the first half before teeing up the second for Mateus Uribe moments after half time. Unfortunately for Colombia, however, they were unable to finish the job, allowing Nuñez to level not long after Rodríguez had been replaced.

Colombia to make late decision on James in Ecuador

It emerged after the game that the playmaker had been struggling somewhat towards the end of his time on the field, although his fitness issues were put down to nothing more than muscle fatigue, rather than anything more sinister. Lozano refused to rule his captain out of Tuesday’s trip to Quito in his pre-match press conference, although his participation has been left somewhat up in the air.

“Nothing has been decided yet,” said the Colombia coach. “We’re going to wait until the last moment. As far as a potential replacement goes, we’re struggling a bit in this international break. But in general, the guys who have been called up have responded well to what we’ve asked of them. That’s what the roster is for, to offer support when it’s needed.”