“It was the last chance for me”: Juan Guillermo Cuadrado admits to being sad after not qualifying for Qatar 2022 with Colombia

Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, a Colombian defender from Juventus, lamented that the Colombian team could not qualify for the Qatar World Cup 2014 and assured that this was his “last chance” to play a World Cup again after having been in Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018.

“No one but us, as a family, knows the sadness (we feel) and more to the to think that it was the last chance for me, but even in the midst of it (sadness) we must get up and move on”, confessed the player in an Instagram story.

Colombia saw its World Cup dream fall last Tuesday in the last round of South American qualifiers, in which, despite defeating Venezuela 0-1, it could not reach fifth place since Peru defeated Paraguay 2-0 and won the playoffs.

With this match against Vinotinto, it is believed that the present of what is described as the best generation of soccer players it has ever had Colombia and in turn begins a restructuring that surely will not have Reinaldo Rueda as coach.

It is possible that this “restructuring” will initially include players like James Rodríguez, David Ospina and himself Juan Cuadrado, but these possibly will not be in the next World Cup process completely due to their age.

This generation was the one that managed to classify the coffee team to the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, managing to end a string of 16 years without attending the great football event. But this did not stop there, they also got a place in the World Cup of 2018 in Russia.

The next World Cup will take place in Canada, Mexico and the United States in 2026, by then, players like Cuadrado will have 38 years while James, who also regretted the elimination of his selection, will have 35.

“I don’t know what’s coming for the next processes, I don’t know if it’s there or not. What I do know is that it breaks my soul to lose, it makes me uncomfortable not being classified and this cannot happen again”, pointed out James Rodríguez.