Colombia at USA 94 and the death of Andres Escobar

Colombia 1994 world cup squad

Colombia arrived at the USA 1994 as a one of the favorite to lift a world cup.With a talented player such as carlos valderama,freddy rincon and faustino asprilla among others,they beat argentina twice in the qualifier including 5-0 thrashing at buenos aires.Even pele himself was quite impressed by this talented team coached by Francisco Maturana.Colombia top the CONMEBOL group without a defeat.

Carlos Valderrama

Faustino Asprilla

Francisco Maturana

5 September 1993

Argentina	0–5	Colombia
		Rincón  41', 74' Asprilla  50', 75' Valencia  85'

Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti, Buenos Aires Attendance: 53,000 Referee: Ernesto Filippi (Uruguay)

Colombia famous win over argentina at the world cup qualifier

Argentina match highlights

Group 1[edit source | editbeta]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Colombia	6	4	2	0	13	2	+11	10
Argentina	6	3	1	2	7	9	−2	7
Paraguay	6	1	4	1	6	7	−1	6
Peru	6	0	1	5	4	12	−8	1

World cup qualifier final standing.

During the world cup 1994,colombia was placed in group A with the host USA,switzerland and romania.Colombia was certainly the favorite to top this group and they expected to thrash this swiss or even a soccer yankee pretty easily.But what happened next was quite shocking indeed.

Colombia: 1-3 :Romania[edit source | editbeta]

June 18, 1994 16:35 PDT

Colombia	1–3	Romania
Valencia 43'	(Report)	Răducioiu 15', 89' Hagi 34'

United States: 2-1 :Colombia[edit source | editbeta]

June 22, 1994 16:35 PDT

United States	2–1	Colombia
Escobar 35' (OG) Stewart 52'	(Report)	Valencia 90'

The loss at the opening game against romania and then losing the second game against the USA ended their world cup campaign and they were going home early.Colombia beat the switzerland in their final game,but it is too late,they were out of the world cup.Coach Maturana resign afterwards and he was going to spain to be a manager of atletico madrid,

Group A - Final Standings

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD  Romania 6 3 2 0 1 5 5 0   Switzerland 4 3 1 1 1 5 4 +1  United States 4 3 1 1 1 3 3 0  Colombia 3 3 1 0 2 4 5 -1 THE DEATH OF ANDRES ESCOBAR In the evening of 2nd July 1994,not more than a month after going home from the world cup,a colombia center half at the world cup,Andres escobar,was shot to death outside Medellin night club in colombia.He was shot 6 times in front of his girlfriend.It was reported that the killer shouted GOL !!! when he firing a shot at escobar.He was escorted to the hospital but was pronounced death 45 minute later.The murder was widely believed to be a punishment for escobar own goal against USA in the world cup.Rumours circling around that the murderer was connected with gambling sydicates that bet large amount of money on colombia to qualify for the 2nd round. Andres Escobar Escobar own goal against USA at the world cup     Escobar murder investigation There you have it,the story of colombia golden generation that going down the drain,they did managed to qualify for the 1998 world cup,but still, they were going out in the first round,and that was the last time they were in the world cup,because they have been missing the 2002,2006 and 2010 edition,so you can do the math,it's been a long time we haven't seen them in the world cup.Maybe this man can change it,let's wait and see next year. Falcao