James Rodriguez: Colombia forward receives Golden Boot
- Published
James Rodriguez was presented with the Golden Boot for finishing as top scorer at the World Cup on Friday - but says his only thought now is to secure a starting berth at Real Madrid.
The Colombia forward, 23, received the award in Madrid, external in recognition of his six goals in five games for Colombia.
Rodriguez's exploits persuaded Real to sign him from Monaco for £71m.
"I have big hopes," said Rodriguez. "But first I have to train well and earn my place in the team."
Rodriguez's volley against Uruguay in the last 16 was hailed by many as the tournament's most spectacular goal but the player himself says he favoured his run and chip against Japan in the group stage.
"It was something so special that will always stay with me," Rodriguez said of his goal against Uruguay, before adding on Fifa's website: "Personally I preferred the one against Japan.
"Those are goals that stay in the memory."
Rodriguez's exploits were the catalyst for Colombia's run to the quarter-finals, where they were beaten 2-1 by the hosts.
World Cup Golden Boot winners | |
---|---|
1930 Guillermo Stabile (Arg) eight goals | 1934 Oldrich Nejedly (Cze); five |
1938 Leonidas (Bra); seven | 1950 Ademir (Bra); eight |
1954 Sandor Kocsis (Hun); 11 | 1958 Just Fontaine (Fra); 13 |
1962 Florian Albert (Hun), Valentin Ivanov (USSR), Garrincha & Vava (Bra), Drazan Jerkovic (Yug), Leonel Sanchez (Chi); four | 1966 Eusebio (Por); nine |
1970 Gerd Muller (Ger); 10 | 1974 Grzegorz Lato (Pol); seven |
1978 Mario Kempes (Arg); six | 1982 Paolo Rossi (Ita); six |
1986 Gary Lineker (Eng); six | 1990 Salvatore Schillaci (Ita); six |
1994 Oleg Salenko (Rus), Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria); six | 1998 Davor Suker (Cro); six |
2002 Ronaldo (Bra); eight | 2006 Miroslav Klose (Ger); five |
2010 Thomas Muller (Ger); five | 2014 James Rodriguez (Col); six |
"I was hoping to win it because I have always dreamed of winning something like this," he added. "And this is also a source of happiness to my country Colombia. They gave me lot of strength so I could win the award."
Looking ahead to the challenge to come during his six-year contract at Real, Rodriguez said: "I hope to win titles here.
"I am now in a club that is always hungry for titles. And I think that if you want to play here you must always keep a high level of performance.
"And I am prepared for that. I hope I can win everything here."
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