20 years since Andrés Escobar was gunned down in Medellin, Colombian football is booming
It seems eerie.
In the same week that marks the 20-year anniversary of Colombian football's darkest hour, Los Cafeteros are sitting in the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time ever.
But the current edition of the tournament wasn't supposed to be the first quarterfinal appearance ever.
Colombia entered the 1994 World Cup among the tournament favorites. They had only lost one of their 26 matches in the lead-up to the competition and gone undefeated in a qualifying campaign that saw them defeat Argentina 5-0 in Buenos Aires. Pelé pegged Colombia to win the whole thing.
As the national team traveled to the United States in July 1994, drug cartels had their hands deep in the pockets of Colombian football clubs, and the country's streets were marred by violence due to the U.S.-led War on Drugs.
In Medellin, the death of drug lord — and humanitarian in the eyes of many —Pablo Escobar had resulted in an anarchy that was summed up accurately by his first cousin Jaime Gaviria in ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary "The Two Escobars."
When Pablo died, the city spun out of control. The boss was dead, so everyone became their own boss. Pablo had prohibited kidnappings. He ran the underworld with complete order. Anything illegal, you asked for Pablo's permission.
It didn't take long for Colombia's World Cup campaign to spin out of control as well. Following a catastrophic 3-1 loss to Romania in their opening match, a result which cost gamblers significant amounts of money, defender Chonto Herrera learned that his brother had been killed in Medellin.
The team then received death threats from an unknown source ahead of their must-win fixture against the United States. Watching the television at their hotel, Colombia's team learned that they would all be killed if midfielder Barrabas Gómez played. The threat likely revolved around club owners wanting their players to be seen on the international stage, and head coach Francisco Maturana subsequently pulled Gómez from his lineup.
Facing insurmountable pressure, and with riots taking place back home, Colombia fell 2-1 to the United States. The winner came courtesy of an own goal from Andrés Escobar, who was regarded as the team's best defender, and was set for a move to AC Milan following the World Cup. It was an unthinkable way to mark Colombia's elimination from the tournament.
On July 2, upon returning to Colombia, Andrés decided to go out one night. He felt that showing his face to the public following the national team's poor showing at the World Cup was as an obligation to his countrymen. But unfortunately, it ended up being a decision that cost the 27-year-old his life.
The story goes that at the nightclub, a small group of people allegedly hurled insults toward Andrés about his own goal. Andrés left, but they followed him outside to his car and continued to provoke. Things escalated, and before Andrés could exit the parking lot, one man walked over to him and fired six bullets.
A pair of witnesses recorded the license plate number of the escape vehicle, which turned out to be registered to one of the Gallón Brothers — two drug traffickers who betrayed Pablo Escobar when they joined Los Pepes, a "vigilante group" that helped take down Pablo's empire. The murder of Andrés was apparently the result of him simply talking back to the Gallón Brothers.
However, the Gallón Brothers avoided jail time by allegedly paying $3 million to Carlos Castaño, a man who could get anyone out of legal trouble for the right price. The Prosecutor's Office was then paid off and the case was redirected towards Andrés' bodyguard, who was assigned 43 years of jail time but was released after only 11 for good behavior.
Andrés' death marked the end of Colombia's brightest-ever footballing era. A number of players vowed to never again represent the national team, but more importantly, the drug money that had fueled the success of Colombian football dried up. The country's government launched a campaign to rid the sport of criminals that funded clubs, meaning Colombia could no longer hold on to its best players and hire the best coaches.
The memories of 1994 are surely ingrained into the minds of Colombia's older population, but 20 years since a golden generation was undermined by its country's social ills, Colombian football is thriving to the point that the national team is included in discussions regarding potential champions.
Getting the game to where it is now has been a long process. The immediate effects of separating drug money from the sport were felt when Colombia only managed a group-stage appearance at the 1998 World Cup before failing to qualify for the next three editions of the tournament.
So how has Colombian football managed to alter its course?
Well, if the country's 1994 side were a golden generation, a platinum generation has emerged. The new Colombian superstars have benefited from coming through the nation's youth ranks together, and have avoided political pressures by playing at the club level in Europe.
20 years ago, when drug money allowed Colombia to retain its best players, the environment surrounding the game in the South American nation was one that instilled conflicting feelings into the national team's players. Andrés, for example, never felt comfortable about the visits that the squad would pay to Pablo Escobar, who regularly invited players to his ranch for a game.
Today, Colombia's World Cup squad features 16 players that play in Europe, where they need not worry about the way Colombian politics and football are intertwined.
No player is shining brighter in Brazil than James Rodriguez, who leads the World Cup with four goals, including a screamer against Uruguay that has to be goal of the tournament.
[Courtesy: Reddit user "TomasRoncero"]
Rodriguez is accomplishing what Faustino Asprilla was unable to achieve 20 years ago, continually finding the backing of the net for a side that many doubted when it was announced that Radamal Falcao would miss the World Cup due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
According to The Guardian, at least nine people were killed during a night of celebrating in Bogotá following Colombia's 3-0 win over Greece, and eight more reportedly died after the national team's 2-0 victory against Uruguay.
Should Colombia knock off Brazil and advance to the semifinals on Friday, one can only imagine what will go down in the streets of Bogotá.
But regardless of what happens in the biggest match in the country's history, the Colombian public has been given the success and joy that Los Cafeteros were tragically unable to provide in 1994.