January 24, 2023 • 26 mins
Shortly after scoring an own goal that knocked Colombia out of the World Cup, Andrés Escobar was shot to death.
Pele picked Colombia to win the 1994 World Cup. It didn’t turn out that way. They crashed out of the group stages. Colombia's captain was known as The Gentleman of Football. But shortly after scoring an own goal that knocked Colombia out of the World Cup, he was shot to death. The cocaine cartels that had pumped laundered money into Colombian soccer, raising it to new highs, came with a lethal price.
The Best Soccer Podcast In The World is a bilingual podcast that tells your soon-to-be favorite soccer stories. The host, Nando Vila, will crack open some of the most iconic World Cup moments, putting them in cultural and geopolitical contexts. From legendary players to silly hairdos to heart-wrenching losses.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
In World Cup. The Colombian national team was staying in Fullerton, California,
just south of Los Angeles. Fans poured in and out
of the hotel lobby to take pictures with the players.
Have you ever been to Fullerton? It's part of the
vast expanse of concrete that makes up Orange County, California.
(00:27):
Disney is just across the way. This wasn't like this
secluded training grounds that the players were used to. They
felt exposed. As the World Cup got under way, the
Colombian team received death threats via facts. The welcome screens
in the hotel room TVs were hacked, replaced with ominous
messages from the fearsome cartel members back home. So when
(00:49):
Colombia took the field in Pasadena's Rose Bowl, they were
rightfully nervous and unsettled. They proceeded to lose to a
barely professional USA team. Out of Columbia's captain famously scored
an own goal. Collegery ay happy on the farce, I said,
(01:15):
that's the score. Escobar on the go, and the United
States reached Columbia. Ten days later, Acbad was shot to
death outside of night club in Minaing It was at
three thirty am in front of this restaurant, twenty seven
year old Andres Escobar got into his car. He was
(01:38):
surrounded and shot twelve times and killed. Allegedly, one of
the sailants yelled thanks for the auto goal, So what
the hell happened? This is the story of the gentleman
of soccer and and his tragic death at the age
(01:58):
of twenty seven. I'm Nando Vila and you're listening to
the best soccer podcast in the world. Goes with it,
but it's still like Christiano Ronaldo. Yes, yes, say in
(02:25):
the Countian teams wonderful. That is a never sink. September five,
(02:47):
Buenos Aitus, seventy five thousand Argentine fans were in El
Moundumental Leave It played stadium where Argentina had never lost
a World Cup qualifying match until nine. Columbia sealed World
(03:10):
Cup qualification with a spectacular five nil win. The Argentine
fans were so impressed they even gave Columbia a standing
ovation after the final whistle. Columbia qualified for the World Cup,
conceding a grand total of two goals zero losses. This
(03:32):
Columbia team was good, I mean really good. Bell picked
them as the favorites to win World Cup. Columb Obviously
Columba n with escob that was an outstanding team. That
was a team that could have won the World Cup
(03:52):
ninety four. That's Marti, a senior writer for ESPN and
was the captain. He was a tall, elegant central defender
with a fluffie mulley and he was good, I mean
really good. A C. Milan offered him a contract. Colombia
being good at soccer was a new thing historically, that
(04:13):
wasn't the case at all. Prior to they had only
qualified for one World Cup and hadn't won a game.
I had such an inferiority complex because especially Colombia, the
Colombia national team before about the ninety nineties, it was
really a poor relation to the kind of established teams
on the continental lights of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and even
(04:34):
I think at that point Peru and Chilea probably surpassed them.
This is Daniel Edwards, a soccer journalist based in Buenos Aires,
Colombia's a sent in the nineties. Coincided with Andres Cobad,
but he wasn't the main cause. It was another Escobard
really Pablo Escobar heard of him. It started with petty crime.
(05:00):
Aolo and his brother Roberto were trying to make some
money in the seventies. Of kidnapping earned them a hundred
thousand dollars, so crime paid. They moved into smuggling, particularly cocaine,
and by the eighties Pablo escobad supplied eight percent of
the world's cocaine. He made sixty million dollars a day.
(05:22):
He had mountains of cash buried in the countryside. How
do you launder that much illicit money, Well, if you're
Pablo Escobar, then you buy a soccer team. His name
could never officially be on it, of course, but he
ran NA It caught on. Rival drug lords did the
same with rival clubs. J. Mexicano ran Minos, the Kylie
(05:46):
Cartel ran a Medical Gali. Suddenly Colombian clubs had enough
money to keep hold of their best players, and they
could afford to hire talented foreign ones, and Colombian soccer
took off. They called it natico fud. Pablo started building
soccer fields with floodlights and slums. There's a bunch of
(06:17):
videos of Escobar at these unveilings, looking awkward at the mic,
the crowd cheers as he kicks an inaugural ball, and
stiffly walks off the field. His methods were not always
so altruistic. His strategy was plata oplomo silver or lead,
accept the bribe, or be dead. It said that Pablo
(06:40):
Scobad once ordered the assassination of a referee, plus a
sort of judges, politicians, over five hundred policemen, and thousands
of rival cartel members. As Pablo was taking over the
global drug trade, Nasonal was emerging on the international stage
and joined the Nacional team at age twenty. Within a
(07:01):
year he was playing for the national team. His club
coach also managed the Colombian team, and this scored his
only goal for Colombia against England at Wembley Stadium. But
in the meantime, Nasonald was plowing forward in the COEs,
(07:22):
the competition of all the best club teams in South America.
No Colombian team had ever won it, and in the
cartel quarterfinal, Nacional scraped past Me and Narios. The final
was Nacional versus Paraguayan club Olympia. Before the match, rumor
has it that the Olympia president got a message from
the Cartel Nacional champions or no one leaves the stadium alive.
(07:52):
In the penalty shootout and scored first. The honey goalkeeper
scored one and saved four in Naional one. But that team,
you know, that I Lit Nacional team has just gone
into history as one of the greatest South American club
(08:13):
teams that ever was. They had Andres go in in
the middle of the defense as well, this tower and
figure who as we all know, mate a very tragic end.
Five years later, after the United States woke up, the
players went to Pablos Cobards Range to celebrate and pick
up their bonuses. Using the core of his nationality, team
(08:34):
coach led Colombia into a new era. They made it
to the round of sixteen at the World Cup. And
so this guy, Francisco Maturano, the culture of that age,
he comes in and he says, look, we're not going
to beat Argentina Brazil by fouling them, by spoiling You know,
(08:56):
we're Colombians. We love, we love to have fun, we
love to just show you artery cell So we're going
to do that on the pitch. And it might not
have ended in Troy phase but it was probably the
closest that Columbias felt to their national team because it
was just reflecting what this country was about. Meanwhile, Bablos
(09:19):
Cobard pumped out enough silver and lead to get a
law changed so that Columbia would no longer extradite people
to the United States, and then came the infamous surrender.
Babulos Cobard turned himself into Columbian authorities on the condition
that he could build his own prison in managing that
became known as more a mansion in a prison, which
(09:41):
came equipped with its own soccer field. Babulos cobad would
fly in elite players for luxurious friendlies. Then he would
bet on the outcome with other drug kingpins. They'd all
go and you don't say no to Pablos Cobard. Reneita
talked openly to journalists he never hit his relationship with
Bablos Cobada, but on this was much more uncomfortable with
(10:04):
the situation. Dio Banadona went once he got a huge
fee to play in the friendly and he had no
idea who Barlos Cobada was at the time. They played
the match and then partied through the night. Madethona wasn't
playing on the day Columbia beat Argentina five nil. He
had failed a drug test and couldn't play, but he
was in the stands applauding. In the fallout of the match,
(10:28):
Mathona rejoined Argentina from his drug band to revive its
chances in the World Cup. Back in Colombia, dozens were
killed in the joyous celebrations. Columbia at the time had
the highest rate of violence anywhere in the world. Cartel's
assassinated politicians and the military hunted down drug traffickers. I
have to mention members of the farc and paramilitaries. There
(10:51):
was a tug of war happening between the government and
the cartels over the future of Columbia itself, and frequently
they were using soccer as the rope. It was the
one thing that everyone agreed on. Then President showed up
to every match. Barbaros Goat tuned in religiously via radio,
even while on the run after he fled his luxurious
(11:12):
prison that he built for himself. Stuck in the middle
of this bloody contest over a nation was a sweet
kid with a flu fee Mullet, nicknamed the Gentleman of Football.
More about what happened next after the break? How did
(11:36):
become the gentleman of football? But like all great stories,
let's go back to his childhood and the nest was
a well off kid, the son of a banker. He
attended private Catholic schools. Even as an adult. It said
that he read the Bible every day. He kept two
bookmarks in it, one a picture of his mom and
a picture of his fiance. He and his fiance had
(11:58):
plans to get married a few after the World Cup.
Former teammates described on Today says beloved by everyone, the
kind of guy you want around on those long, dreary
nights on international travel. And the This was publicly shy,
but hugely popular. He was in a bunch of ads
ahead of the World Cup. It's kind of jarring knowing
(12:19):
what's going to happen next. The world was full of
buoyant commercial cheer for the ninety four World Cup in
the good Old US of a three hundred thousand fans
visited from abroad. About three point five million people packed
stadiums to ent capacity and booked half a million hotel rooms.
(12:42):
Snickers got their logo in front of two billion viewers
on TV imported beer cells jumped by over three. ABC
helpfully explained what exactly this whole soccer thing was. Well,
you know, I think a lot of people are still
confused about how this tournament works. Temporary Ted Who's a Striker?
The cartoon dog mascot for the tournament became a surprise
(13:04):
hit from a novelty shop in Texas. At the opening ceremonies,
trapes around with Whitney Houston and Bill Clinton gave a
speech Let it do, Donaldan United excited, honored to quite
hug So that's magnificent, Donald Brighton, Diana Ross missed the
penalty and the whole goal split in half. Back in Colombia,
(13:31):
things were considerably less cheery. Bablos Cobad had fled the
prison he built for himself. The Colombian government wanted to
move him to a real prison, and instead he ducked
out in the middle of the night and was living
on the lamb for two years, and he had a
target on his back. The military and a bunch of
vigilantes financed by the Cali cartel hunted down Pablo Scbad.
(13:56):
These vigilantes came to be known as los pepes as
in they were mostly cartel members bribed to turn on
Bablo months before the World Cup. Bablos Coat was gunned
down on a medicine rooftop a day after his forty
four birthday. Rival factions fought to fill the power vacuum.
(14:17):
There were no rules. The country descended into chaos. Reneita
got involved in the ransom, paid for a cartel kidnapping,
and spent seven months in jail. He was excluded from
the World Cup squad. Motorcyclists kidnapped the four year old
son of Columbia defender Luis ra from outside his home
in medhin They returned the kid to a church the
(14:39):
next day. All of this was taking a toll on
Columbia's national team as they prepared for their opening match
in the World Cup against Romani June eighth, Group A.
They met at the Rose Bowl and things didn't go well.
(14:59):
For a vast sea of nine spectators. What does a
vintage Romania side overcame Columbia and the group staying. Columbia's
backup goalkeeper Oscar Cordova didn't even see the ball coming.
He didn't look great on any of the three goals
scored during that match, but he looked especially bad on
(15:20):
this one. After a brilliant qualifying campaign and expectations were
sky high, they crashed and burned in their opening match.
The first half carried Romania to a three wong win
over Columbia, and that's when the death threats came rolling.
(15:55):
In some context, the players weren't the only ones that
had their asses on the line during the World Cup.
It wasn't your run of the mill World Cup steaks.
Drug syndicates had bet millions on Columbia. Columbia's assistant coach
was a guy named Ernan Dario Gomes. His brother was
Garril Barba Comes, a starting midfielder on the team. The
(16:19):
facts was sent to the Fullerton hotel that's said that
if Barabas started, they would murder Barabas, Barabas's family, coach,
Matana's family, and the rest of the squad. The TVs
in their hotel rooms showed a similar message. Marta showed
up to a team meeting crying, what could he do
(16:39):
forward if Austino Asprilla called his family and told them
to hide. Chantra, the defender, whose four year old son
was kidnapped, got the news that his brother had died
in a car crash. He was despondent. He wanted to
give up and go home, Andres go out of stayed
up with Aria all night, comforting him the country needs you,
(17:01):
and that I told his friend problems off the field,
and you know, that whole Columbia team, especially in NTO,
and we didn't necessarily know it at the time, and
it all came out after with you know, death threats
and the cartel, I mean, and all of this stuff,
and obviously with Andres Escobar and all that kind of
stuff that happened, that team was knee deep in it.
(17:22):
This is Alexei Lawless. He played for the United States
in the next game against Columbia with his scraggly goatee
and uncombed ginger main and iconic Denham jersey. Now Alexei
works for Fox Sports. Barabbas was dropped in the middle
of the tournament. He left the team and never played
for Columbia again. Shaking teammates made the trek up to
(17:42):
Pasadena to play the hosting United States June twenty world
the world than six nine fans showed up to the
(18:08):
Columbia USA game. To the outside world, Columbia was still
a favorite to win the World Cup, the United States
had just a few pros playing in far flung leagues.
Columbia's star striker was Faustino Esparriga wonder to mark him,
(18:28):
the Americans surprisingly turned to Fernando cRIO, a thirty seven
year old who hadn't played a match in months. Columbia
dominated the opening spell, just pepper to the American goal
with shots. This one looked like it could get ugly,
until it got ugly in a very different way. Cops
look at this duties the clingly with a goal from
(18:53):
Columbia's goalkeeper, Cordova's already moving to where the cross will go.
When it's redirected path him. He arcs backward and falls
over like he's been shot. In the feed, you can
see Andresco out of stand up. He's got his hands
on his hips, head hung low. He doesn't look defeated,
just sort of a grim acceptance, ready to get on
(19:14):
with the game with life on the go on. The
United States reached Colombia at halftime, subbed off as pretty yet,
Lavico said quote, he should be ashamed of himself. Not
(19:36):
only did he not play well, he didn't even try.
Maturana said later he would have subbed out all eleven
players if he could have more about what happened next
after the break second half, send it on the school. Yeah,
(20:10):
the American dream is alive and well any steward makes
it true now on there on the way to the
second round, a little Laalencia scored Columbia's only goal in
the ninety minute, but it wasn't enough. In hindsight, it's
eerie watching the American people celebrating on the streets. Columbia
(20:32):
losing to the US and ninety four was perhaps the
biggest upset in World Cup history. The American headlines read
the Miracle on Grass. The US was through to the
knockout rounds. Columbia, on the other hand, was out. The
newspaper La Prinza went with the headline humiliated by the
United States, said his team couldn't have played so poorly,
(20:56):
even on purpose. Apa got defensive into old reporters. It's
not the end of the world, maybe, but it was
the end of a lot of things. Drug traffickers lost
millions in bets on Columbia. Martano resigned after receiving bomb
threats at his house and fled Columbia and none Dais
(21:19):
the assistant coach turned down the head coaching job. He
said he simply didn't want it anymore. One could understand why.
And his family had vacation plans. They were headed to
America and asked Andres to join A Columbia radio station
asked Andres to do the commentary for the rest of
the World Cup. He declined both invitations. He went back home.
(21:41):
He thought it was important to show his face in Colombia.
This is audio from the last interview he gave when
the cancer. In the footage, he looked down and then
into the middle distance. He blinks, there's nothing much more
(22:05):
to say. He's defeated, but we'll get on with his life.
Two days later, Andreescobad was murdered. On the night of
his death, and this left his fiance at home to
(22:26):
go out with some friends and ended up at a
club called and This was drinking and he gets into
a verbal scuffle with some people. At three am, he
leaves with his friends to go get some food. And
this was in the car in the parking lot. When
three people approached, they shot him six or twelve times,
depending on the report. Someone told the local radio station
(22:48):
that they heard one of the shooters say thanks for
the alto. The group yelled goal after each shot. It's
unlikely they killed him this explicitly for the own goal.
We don't know for or what they were arguing about,
and Rancisco Bad died from his wounds on the way
to the hospital trying to squeeze his friend's hand. Two
(23:13):
of the gunmen were identified as the Rayon brothers, Juan
drug traffickers slash car dealers. They've been members of Los
Pepies and had helped hunt down Baos Colada when authorities
arrested the Vallons, they also confiscated fifty pounds of cocaine,
two revolvers, and a submachine gun. The Rayons then paid
(23:33):
off the prosecutors. Their drivers slash bodyguard took the fall
and confessed. He was sentenced to forty three years in prison,
but got out after eleven for good behavior. The Yon
brothers went free. On July. Colombian players started getting calls
(23:54):
early in the morning saying and was dead. Asprilla didn't
really believe it until he saw the midday news. On
June twenty second, in Pasadena's Rose Bowl, the US wanted
to one game, at which Columbia defender Andres Escobar accidentally
kicked the ball into his own net. Columbia, one of
the favorites going in, was eliminated in the first round.
The team returned home on Wednesday to anonymous threats, threats
(24:16):
that were carried out may the Ian city officials instituted
a twenty four hour alcohol band. The members of the
Columbia team were signed additional bodyguards, and then Cisco about
his body lay in state at an open colosseum. The
next day. Ten thousand people attended the funeral, including the
President of Colombia and the mayor of Medain. Thousands walked
(24:37):
with the casket ten miles to the cemetery. Back in
the United States, the knockout rounds of the World Cup
we're starting. They held a moment of silence before the
next two matches to complete. You're not respect for life,
you know whatever. It's just a game, you know, and
(24:58):
of course, you know at this level that gets kind
of blurred. That's a very young Alexei Lawalas on Sports Center.
It was ten days between the own goal and Andranciscobata's murder.
(25:20):
The Best Soccer Podcast in the World is a production
of exile content Studios in partnership with I Hearts Michael
Duda podcast Network and is hosted by me Nando Vila.
The show is produced by Anna save Octavio and Zach
Lee Rigg, written by Zach Lee Rigg. Production assistants by
Stella and Our executive producers are Isaac Lee Rose Reed
(25:41):
and myself Nando Vila. Our executive producers at I Heart
are Giselle Vances and Arlene Santana. Sound designed by Ula Mendoza.
Our theme song is by lu j Special thanks to
all the voices who participated in this episode Alexei Laalas,
Garl Marcotti and Daniel Edwards. For more podcasts, listen to
the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
(26:04):
to your favorite shows,
In World Cup. The Colombian national team was staying in Fullerton, California,
just south of Los Angeles. Fans poured in and out
of the hotel lobby to take pictures with the players.
Have you ever been to Fullerton? It's part of the
vast expanse of concrete that makes up Orange County, California.
(00:27):
Disney is just across the way. This wasn't like this
secluded training grounds that the players were used to. They
felt exposed. As the World Cup got under way, the
Colombian team received death threats via facts. The welcome screens
in the hotel room TVs were hacked, replaced with ominous
messages from the fearsome cartel members back home. So when
(00:49):
Colombia took the field in Pasadena's Rose Bowl, they were
rightfully nervous and unsettled. They proceeded to lose to a
barely professional USA team. Out of Columbia's captain famously scored
an own goal. Collegery ay happy on the farce, I said,
(01:15):
that's the score. Escobar on the go, and the United
States reached Columbia. Ten days later, Acbad was shot to
death outside of night club in Minaing It was at
three thirty am in front of this restaurant, twenty seven
year old Andres Escobar got into his car. He was
(01:38):
surrounded and shot twelve times and killed. Allegedly, one of
the sailants yelled thanks for the auto goal, So what
the hell happened? This is the story of the gentleman
of soccer and and his tragic death at the age
(01:58):
of twenty seven. I'm Nando Vila and you're listening to
the best soccer podcast in the world. Goes with it,
but it's still like Christiano Ronaldo. Yes, yes, say in
(02:25):
the Countian teams wonderful. That is a never sink. September five,
(02:47):
Buenos Aitus, seventy five thousand Argentine fans were in El
Moundumental Leave It played stadium where Argentina had never lost
a World Cup qualifying match until nine. Columbia sealed World
(03:10):
Cup qualification with a spectacular five nil win. The Argentine
fans were so impressed they even gave Columbia a standing
ovation after the final whistle. Columbia qualified for the World Cup,
conceding a grand total of two goals zero losses. This
(03:32):
Columbia team was good, I mean really good. Bell picked
them as the favorites to win World Cup. Columb Obviously
Columba n with escob that was an outstanding team. That
was a team that could have won the World Cup
(03:52):
ninety four. That's Marti, a senior writer for ESPN and
was the captain. He was a tall, elegant central defender
with a fluffie mulley and he was good, I mean
really good. A C. Milan offered him a contract. Colombia
being good at soccer was a new thing historically, that
(04:13):
wasn't the case at all. Prior to they had only
qualified for one World Cup and hadn't won a game.
I had such an inferiority complex because especially Colombia, the
Colombia national team before about the ninety nineties, it was
really a poor relation to the kind of established teams
on the continental lights of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and even
(04:34):
I think at that point Peru and Chilea probably surpassed them.
This is Daniel Edwards, a soccer journalist based in Buenos Aires,
Colombia's a sent in the nineties. Coincided with Andres Cobad,
but he wasn't the main cause. It was another Escobard
really Pablo Escobar heard of him. It started with petty crime.
(05:00):
Aolo and his brother Roberto were trying to make some
money in the seventies. Of kidnapping earned them a hundred
thousand dollars, so crime paid. They moved into smuggling, particularly cocaine,
and by the eighties Pablo escobad supplied eight percent of
the world's cocaine. He made sixty million dollars a day.
(05:22):
He had mountains of cash buried in the countryside. How
do you launder that much illicit money, Well, if you're
Pablo Escobar, then you buy a soccer team. His name
could never officially be on it, of course, but he
ran NA It caught on. Rival drug lords did the
same with rival clubs. J. Mexicano ran Minos, the Kylie
(05:46):
Cartel ran a Medical Gali. Suddenly Colombian clubs had enough
money to keep hold of their best players, and they
could afford to hire talented foreign ones, and Colombian soccer
took off. They called it natico fud. Pablo started building
soccer fields with floodlights and slums. There's a bunch of
(06:17):
videos of Escobar at these unveilings, looking awkward at the mic,
the crowd cheers as he kicks an inaugural ball, and
stiffly walks off the field. His methods were not always
so altruistic. His strategy was plata oplomo silver or lead,
accept the bribe, or be dead. It said that Pablo
(06:40):
Scobad once ordered the assassination of a referee, plus a
sort of judges, politicians, over five hundred policemen, and thousands
of rival cartel members. As Pablo was taking over the
global drug trade, Nasonal was emerging on the international stage
and joined the Nacional team at age twenty. Within a
(07:01):
year he was playing for the national team. His club
coach also managed the Colombian team, and this scored his
only goal for Colombia against England at Wembley Stadium. But
in the meantime, Nasonald was plowing forward in the COEs,
(07:22):
the competition of all the best club teams in South America.
No Colombian team had ever won it, and in the
cartel quarterfinal, Nacional scraped past Me and Narios. The final
was Nacional versus Paraguayan club Olympia. Before the match, rumor
has it that the Olympia president got a message from
the Cartel Nacional champions or no one leaves the stadium alive.
(07:52):
In the penalty shootout and scored first. The honey goalkeeper
scored one and saved four in Naional one. But that team,
you know, that I Lit Nacional team has just gone
into history as one of the greatest South American club
(08:13):
teams that ever was. They had Andres go in in
the middle of the defense as well, this tower and
figure who as we all know, mate a very tragic end.
Five years later, after the United States woke up, the
players went to Pablos Cobards Range to celebrate and pick
up their bonuses. Using the core of his nationality, team
(08:34):
coach led Colombia into a new era. They made it
to the round of sixteen at the World Cup. And
so this guy, Francisco Maturano, the culture of that age,
he comes in and he says, look, we're not going
to beat Argentina Brazil by fouling them, by spoiling You know,
(08:56):
we're Colombians. We love, we love to have fun, we
love to just show you artery cell So we're going
to do that on the pitch. And it might not
have ended in Troy phase but it was probably the
closest that Columbias felt to their national team because it
was just reflecting what this country was about. Meanwhile, Bablos
(09:19):
Cobard pumped out enough silver and lead to get a
law changed so that Columbia would no longer extradite people
to the United States, and then came the infamous surrender.
Babulos Cobard turned himself into Columbian authorities on the condition
that he could build his own prison in managing that
became known as more a mansion in a prison, which
(09:41):
came equipped with its own soccer field. Babulos cobad would
fly in elite players for luxurious friendlies. Then he would
bet on the outcome with other drug kingpins. They'd all
go and you don't say no to Pablos Cobard. Reneita
talked openly to journalists he never hit his relationship with
Bablos Cobada, but on this was much more uncomfortable with
(10:04):
the situation. Dio Banadona went once he got a huge
fee to play in the friendly and he had no
idea who Barlos Cobada was at the time. They played
the match and then partied through the night. Madethona wasn't
playing on the day Columbia beat Argentina five nil. He
had failed a drug test and couldn't play, but he
was in the stands applauding. In the fallout of the match,
(10:28):
Mathona rejoined Argentina from his drug band to revive its
chances in the World Cup. Back in Colombia, dozens were
killed in the joyous celebrations. Columbia at the time had
the highest rate of violence anywhere in the world. Cartel's
assassinated politicians and the military hunted down drug traffickers. I
have to mention members of the farc and paramilitaries. There
(10:51):
was a tug of war happening between the government and
the cartels over the future of Columbia itself, and frequently
they were using soccer as the rope. It was the
one thing that everyone agreed on. Then President showed up
to every match. Barbaros Goat tuned in religiously via radio,
even while on the run after he fled his luxurious
(11:12):
prison that he built for himself. Stuck in the middle
of this bloody contest over a nation was a sweet
kid with a flu fee Mullet, nicknamed the Gentleman of Football.
More about what happened next after the break? How did
(11:36):
become the gentleman of football? But like all great stories,
let's go back to his childhood and the nest was
a well off kid, the son of a banker. He
attended private Catholic schools. Even as an adult. It said
that he read the Bible every day. He kept two
bookmarks in it, one a picture of his mom and
a picture of his fiance. He and his fiance had
(11:58):
plans to get married a few after the World Cup.
Former teammates described on Today says beloved by everyone, the
kind of guy you want around on those long, dreary
nights on international travel. And the This was publicly shy,
but hugely popular. He was in a bunch of ads
ahead of the World Cup. It's kind of jarring knowing
(12:19):
what's going to happen next. The world was full of
buoyant commercial cheer for the ninety four World Cup in
the good Old US of a three hundred thousand fans
visited from abroad. About three point five million people packed
stadiums to ent capacity and booked half a million hotel rooms.
(12:42):
Snickers got their logo in front of two billion viewers
on TV imported beer cells jumped by over three. ABC
helpfully explained what exactly this whole soccer thing was. Well,
you know, I think a lot of people are still
confused about how this tournament works. Temporary Ted Who's a Striker?
The cartoon dog mascot for the tournament became a surprise
(13:04):
hit from a novelty shop in Texas. At the opening ceremonies,
trapes around with Whitney Houston and Bill Clinton gave a
speech Let it do, Donaldan United excited, honored to quite
hug So that's magnificent, Donald Brighton, Diana Ross missed the
penalty and the whole goal split in half. Back in Colombia,
(13:31):
things were considerably less cheery. Bablos Cobad had fled the
prison he built for himself. The Colombian government wanted to
move him to a real prison, and instead he ducked
out in the middle of the night and was living
on the lamb for two years, and he had a
target on his back. The military and a bunch of
vigilantes financed by the Cali cartel hunted down Pablo Scbad.
(13:56):
These vigilantes came to be known as los pepes as
in they were mostly cartel members bribed to turn on
Bablo months before the World Cup. Bablos Coat was gunned
down on a medicine rooftop a day after his forty
four birthday. Rival factions fought to fill the power vacuum.
(14:17):
There were no rules. The country descended into chaos. Reneita
got involved in the ransom, paid for a cartel kidnapping,
and spent seven months in jail. He was excluded from
the World Cup squad. Motorcyclists kidnapped the four year old
son of Columbia defender Luis ra from outside his home
in medhin They returned the kid to a church the
(14:39):
next day. All of this was taking a toll on
Columbia's national team as they prepared for their opening match
in the World Cup against Romani June eighth, Group A.
They met at the Rose Bowl and things didn't go well.
(14:59):
For a vast sea of nine spectators. What does a
vintage Romania side overcame Columbia and the group staying. Columbia's
backup goalkeeper Oscar Cordova didn't even see the ball coming.
He didn't look great on any of the three goals
scored during that match, but he looked especially bad on
(15:20):
this one. After a brilliant qualifying campaign and expectations were
sky high, they crashed and burned in their opening match.
The first half carried Romania to a three wong win
over Columbia, and that's when the death threats came rolling.
(15:55):
In some context, the players weren't the only ones that
had their asses on the line during the World Cup.
It wasn't your run of the mill World Cup steaks.
Drug syndicates had bet millions on Columbia. Columbia's assistant coach
was a guy named Ernan Dario Gomes. His brother was
Garril Barba Comes, a starting midfielder on the team. The
(16:19):
facts was sent to the Fullerton hotel that's said that
if Barabas started, they would murder Barabas, Barabas's family, coach,
Matana's family, and the rest of the squad. The TVs
in their hotel rooms showed a similar message. Marta showed
up to a team meeting crying, what could he do
(16:39):
forward if Austino Asprilla called his family and told them
to hide. Chantra, the defender, whose four year old son
was kidnapped, got the news that his brother had died
in a car crash. He was despondent. He wanted to
give up and go home, Andres go out of stayed
up with Aria all night, comforting him the country needs you,
(17:01):
and that I told his friend problems off the field,
and you know, that whole Columbia team, especially in NTO,
and we didn't necessarily know it at the time, and
it all came out after with you know, death threats
and the cartel, I mean, and all of this stuff,
and obviously with Andres Escobar and all that kind of
stuff that happened, that team was knee deep in it.
(17:22):
This is Alexei Lawless. He played for the United States
in the next game against Columbia with his scraggly goatee
and uncombed ginger main and iconic Denham jersey. Now Alexei
works for Fox Sports. Barabbas was dropped in the middle
of the tournament. He left the team and never played
for Columbia again. Shaking teammates made the trek up to
(17:42):
Pasadena to play the hosting United States June twenty world
the world than six nine fans showed up to the
(18:08):
Columbia USA game. To the outside world, Columbia was still
a favorite to win the World Cup, the United States
had just a few pros playing in far flung leagues.
Columbia's star striker was Faustino Esparriga wonder to mark him,
(18:28):
the Americans surprisingly turned to Fernando cRIO, a thirty seven
year old who hadn't played a match in months. Columbia
dominated the opening spell, just pepper to the American goal
with shots. This one looked like it could get ugly,
until it got ugly in a very different way. Cops
look at this duties the clingly with a goal from
(18:53):
Columbia's goalkeeper, Cordova's already moving to where the cross will go.
When it's redirected path him. He arcs backward and falls
over like he's been shot. In the feed, you can
see Andresco out of stand up. He's got his hands
on his hips, head hung low. He doesn't look defeated,
just sort of a grim acceptance, ready to get on
(19:14):
with the game with life on the go on. The
United States reached Colombia at halftime, subbed off as pretty yet,
Lavico said quote, he should be ashamed of himself. Not
(19:36):
only did he not play well, he didn't even try.
Maturana said later he would have subbed out all eleven
players if he could have more about what happened next
after the break second half, send it on the school. Yeah,
(20:10):
the American dream is alive and well any steward makes
it true now on there on the way to the
second round, a little Laalencia scored Columbia's only goal in
the ninety minute, but it wasn't enough. In hindsight, it's
eerie watching the American people celebrating on the streets. Columbia
(20:32):
losing to the US and ninety four was perhaps the
biggest upset in World Cup history. The American headlines read
the Miracle on Grass. The US was through to the
knockout rounds. Columbia, on the other hand, was out. The
newspaper La Prinza went with the headline humiliated by the
United States, said his team couldn't have played so poorly,
(20:56):
even on purpose. Apa got defensive into old reporters. It's
not the end of the world, maybe, but it was
the end of a lot of things. Drug traffickers lost
millions in bets on Columbia. Martano resigned after receiving bomb
threats at his house and fled Columbia and none Dais
(21:19):
the assistant coach turned down the head coaching job. He
said he simply didn't want it anymore. One could understand why.
And his family had vacation plans. They were headed to
America and asked Andres to join A Columbia radio station
asked Andres to do the commentary for the rest of
the World Cup. He declined both invitations. He went back home.
(21:41):
He thought it was important to show his face in Colombia.
This is audio from the last interview he gave when
the cancer. In the footage, he looked down and then
into the middle distance. He blinks, there's nothing much more
(22:05):
to say. He's defeated, but we'll get on with his life.
Two days later, Andreescobad was murdered. On the night of
his death, and this left his fiance at home to
(22:26):
go out with some friends and ended up at a
club called and This was drinking and he gets into
a verbal scuffle with some people. At three am, he
leaves with his friends to go get some food. And
this was in the car in the parking lot. When
three people approached, they shot him six or twelve times,
depending on the report. Someone told the local radio station
(22:48):
that they heard one of the shooters say thanks for
the alto. The group yelled goal after each shot. It's
unlikely they killed him this explicitly for the own goal.
We don't know for or what they were arguing about,
and Rancisco Bad died from his wounds on the way
to the hospital trying to squeeze his friend's hand. Two
(23:13):
of the gunmen were identified as the Rayon brothers, Juan
drug traffickers slash car dealers. They've been members of Los
Pepies and had helped hunt down Baos Colada when authorities
arrested the Vallons, they also confiscated fifty pounds of cocaine,
two revolvers, and a submachine gun. The Rayons then paid
(23:33):
off the prosecutors. Their drivers slash bodyguard took the fall
and confessed. He was sentenced to forty three years in prison,
but got out after eleven for good behavior. The Yon
brothers went free. On July. Colombian players started getting calls
(23:54):
early in the morning saying and was dead. Asprilla didn't
really believe it until he saw the midday news. On
June twenty second, in Pasadena's Rose Bowl, the US wanted
to one game, at which Columbia defender Andres Escobar accidentally
kicked the ball into his own net. Columbia, one of
the favorites going in, was eliminated in the first round.
The team returned home on Wednesday to anonymous threats, threats
(24:16):
that were carried out may the Ian city officials instituted
a twenty four hour alcohol band. The members of the
Columbia team were signed additional bodyguards, and then Cisco about
his body lay in state at an open colosseum. The
next day. Ten thousand people attended the funeral, including the
President of Colombia and the mayor of Medain. Thousands walked
(24:37):
with the casket ten miles to the cemetery. Back in
the United States, the knockout rounds of the World Cup
we're starting. They held a moment of silence before the
next two matches to complete. You're not respect for life,
you know whatever. It's just a game, you know, and
(24:58):
of course, you know at this level that gets kind
of blurred. That's a very young Alexei Lawalas on Sports Center.
It was ten days between the own goal and Andranciscobata's murder.
(25:20):
The Best Soccer Podcast in the World is a production
of exile content Studios in partnership with I Hearts Michael
Duda podcast Network and is hosted by me Nando Vila.
The show is produced by Anna save Octavio and Zach
Lee Rigg, written by Zach Lee Rigg. Production assistants by
Stella and Our executive producers are Isaac Lee Rose Reed
(25:41):
and myself Nando Vila. Our executive producers at I Heart
are Giselle Vances and Arlene Santana. Sound designed by Ula Mendoza.
Our theme song is by lu j Special thanks to
all the voices who participated in this episode Alexei Laalas,
Garl Marcotti and Daniel Edwards. For more podcasts, listen to
the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
(26:04):
to your favorite shows,
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