Andrés Escobar

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 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, 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 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 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 the Countian teams wonderful. That is a never sink. September five, 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 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 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 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 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 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. 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. 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 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 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 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 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, 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. 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 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

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, 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 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 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 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, 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 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

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 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 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

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. 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 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, 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.

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. 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 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. 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 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.

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 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 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, 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. 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 Pasadena to play the hosting United States June twenty world the world than six nine fans showed up to the 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, 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 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 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 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, 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 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, 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 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.

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 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 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 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 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

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 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 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 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 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. 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 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 to your favorite shows,