James Rodriguez sees plenty of room for improvement for Colombia despite overcoming Paraguay in their Copa America opener, in which he laid on two assists. (More Football News)
Colombia sit top of Group D after the opening round of matches, with Crystal Palace duo Daniel Munoz and Jefferson Lerma netting in a 2-1 win in Houston and Brazil later failing t🦩o join them on three points as they drew 0-🅰0 with Costa Rica.
Former Real Madrid man Rodriguez teed up both of his team's goals, becoming the first player to assist twice in a Copa America gro�🙈�up-stage match since Peru's Andre Carrillo in 2019 (versus Chile). Rodriguez now has 30 assists in 101 career games for his country, with five of those coming in the Copa America.
He also led all Colombia players for chances created (three), passes in the final third (17) and crosses (10), as well as𓆏 ranking second for touches (80) and passes completed (53), both behind Davinson Sanchez (81, 55).
The victory made them just the fourth CONMEBOL team to record nine straight wins across all competi🍒tions, after Brazil (12 times), Argentina (three) and Peru (once).
However, Colombia did not have things all their own way as Paraguay attempted mo🍎re shots (12 to 11) and created a higher expected goals figure (0.82 xG to 0.63), leading Rodriguez to call for more.
"I am very happy, it was very important to start well today against a tough opponent like Paraguay," he told reporters after M🔯onday's victory.
"In the second half we cou♛ld have done better, but things are corrected better when the team wins, it's all much easier.&qu🅰ot;
The NRG Stadium, home to the NFL's Houston Texans, was a sea of y🎃ellow forꦕ the game as Colombian fans packed into the venue, leaving Rodriguez awestruck.
"It's beautiful, they are supporting us a lot," he said of the huge Colombian contingent. "There is still a lo🙈ng way to go and we are going to go game by game."
Colombia go to Phoenix for the🦩ir second match against Costa Rica on Friday, before taking 𒉰on Brazil next Tuesday at San Francisco's Levi's Stadium.
