No James, Mina in Colombia squad as Morelos wins first call-up

James Rodriguez and Yerry Mina have been left out of the Colombia squad for next month’s international matches with Venezuela and Argentina.

Bayern Munich star James has been omitted to allow him to continue his recovery from an injury sustained at the World Cup.

Mina, meanwhile, is yet to make an appearance for Everton since joining from Barcelona this month.

“It was agreed that this was not his [James’] call-up,” explained Arturo Reyes, who is in temporary charge of Colombia’s senior side while Jose Pekerman seeks to resolve a dispute with the football federation.

“Next month he will certainly be there, but the most important thing for now is that he completes his recovery process and gets back into matches progressively.”

Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos has been called up for the first time, while Valencia’s Jeison Murillo is back after being left out for much of the last two years.

Colombia face Venezuela in their first post-World Cup friendly on September 7, before facing Argentina four days later.

Estos son los 23 elegidos por Arturo Reyes para disputar los amistosos del 7 y 11 de septiembre. pic.twitter.com/zefGWh5SVf

— Selección Colombia (@FCFSeleccionCol) August 28, 2018

Colombia squad in full:

David Ospina (Napoli), Ivan Arboleda (Banfield); Santiago Arias (Atletico Madrid), Davinson Sanchez (Tottenham), Jeison Murillo (Valencia), Jhon Lucumi (Genk), William Tesillo (Leon), Cristian Borja (Toluca), Helibelton Palacios (Nacional), Deiver Machado (Nacional); Juan Cuadrado (Juventus), Mateus Uribe (Club America), Wilmar Barrios (Boca Juniors), Sebastian Villa (Boca Juniors), Juan Fernando Quintero (River Plate), Gustavo Cuellar (Flamengo), Yimmi Chara (Atletico Mineiro), Nicolas Benedetti (Deportivo Cali), Jorman Campuzano (Nacional); Radamel Falcao (Monaco), Luis Muriel (Sevilla), Carlos Bacca (Villarreal), Alfredo Morelos (Rangers), Luis Diaz (Junior).