James Rodriguez back in the spotlight at Copa America, but now with something to prove

Remember James Rodriguez at the World Cup? It's been over two years, but if you close your eyes, you can picture it like it happened just yesterday.

In an effort to slip an attacker through the Cuben fiber of nine Uruguayan defenders hunkered down in the final third, Abel Aguilar tries to loop a probing ball over the wide left defender. It's hopeless, but the clearance only makes it as far as Aguilar, who nods it to a young, beady-eyed 22-year-old Colombian standing with his back to goal in figurative acres of space 30-some-odd yards out, because the only option was a turnaround-full-volley. And who the hell is foolhardy enough to try something like that from there?

James (HAH-mes, don't be a plebe) David Rodriguez Rubio. I mean, everything else he'd tried up to this point had worked, so this had to.

That was Rodriguez's fourth goal of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, a tally that would eventually rise to six netting him the Golden Boot Award, and the Puskas Award for best goal because this was less a "goal" than it was a "religious experience."

Florentino Perez wasn't about to not overpay for the brightest star of world football's biggest show, and months later Rodriguez was at the Bernabeu doing keepy-ups in his pristine new Real Madrid strip in front of crowd of 45,000 or so, living his childhood dream.

With Ronaldo perpetually "on his way out" and due to overheat for good at any point in the next four or five years, Rodriguez was fingered to be his successor. And Rodriguez impressed in kind-- he had a nose for goal and seemed to be able to read a backline in binary; like Neo when he finally started to believe toward the end of The Matrix. His versatility and comfort with either playing in the hole behind a point striker or being a mutable cog in a traditional 4-4-2 allowed him to enjoy a prominent role under then-coach Carlo Ancelotti. He flourished. He scored a lot. He won over the impossible-to-win-over socios. Things were good.

And then Ancelotti got sacked.

He saw decreased playing time under Ancelotti's successor Rafa Benitez, which was right around the same time that Rodriguez's professionalism and dedication to the club were being called into question (he's Twenty-freaking-Four, by the way), and he hasn't fared much better in recent months with Zinedine Zidane. Reports of rifts between the Colombian and his new boss and successive exclusions from the first team have started the transfer rumor mill churning with Manchester United, Manchester City, and Chelsea all likely destinations.

However, in a perfectly ordered universe, Rodriguez would stay put and you know, get some playing time. But Perez's penchant for buying every shiny new attacking option with a marketable face he sees in the transfer window has hamstringed him. Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric are all locks for pretty much any starting lineup in the world, leaving maybe Casemiro or Toni Kroos for Rodriguez to displace. And not even really Casemiro because someone in the midfield has to be able to put in a decent tackle.

In short, this is James Rodriguez's "contract year." If he wants to get back into the first team, it starts with wilding out for Colombia like it's 2014 at this summer's Copa America Centenario.

MORE FROM FOX SOCCER