BEING injured is particularly cumbersome when some in your country have decided that you’re faking it, or being soft, and should be threatened with death.

    Colombia captain and superstar, and Real Madrid player James Rodriguez pulled out of his national team’s World Cup qualifier against Uruguay yesterday. The left calf injury had ruled him out of last Thursday’s Paraguay game as well.

    Many Colombians were not best pleased, calling James a national disgrace for committing the grievous crime of getting injured in the line of professional soccer duty.

    Rodriguez’s mother has made a formal police complaint over a violent death threat the player received on Twitter.

    A Buenos Aires-based account published a harrowing message directed at the player.

    “I am traveling to your home, I am armed, say goodbye to everything you love,” a post said, accompanied by a photo of a pistol and bullets.

    The tweet also contained a reference to the “legion holk,” a group notorious for trolling public figures and promoting offensive hashtags, such as #mujergolpeadamujerfeliz, which translates as “a beaten woman is a happy woman.”

    Although it’s easy to dismiss death threats on Twitter, Colombia has a dark history with violent reactions from angry fans.

    Andres Escobar, 27, was shot five days after his country’s elimination from the 1994 World Cup as retribution for scoring the own goal that sealed the team’s fate.

    (SD-Agencies)