Colombia soccer

[Multi-Billionaire]

I watched a ESPN documentary about "The Two Escobars" (Pablo and Andres)

 

Pablo was the famed drug dealing billionaire but he provided for the poor, gave them houses and soccer facilities. Great soccer players from Colombia were poor so stars were born.

 

Then Andres was a star... until his own goal vs USA and he went home and was assassinated.

 

 

What stuck with me most are:

- Colombia was actually once a world-class soccer team... they were ranked 4th in early 1990s and going into the 1994 World Cup in USA, they were actually favored to win the whole thing. Pele predicted they would win.

- In qualifiers, they beat Argentina in Argentina 5-0 and received standing ovations from Argentinian crowd who initially jeered them when they touched down in Argentina. They beat Brazil 3-0, and in 26 matches only lost 2 games.

- They played with crazy situations regarding the crime activities in their home... they did not cope well with expectations tipping them to win the World Cup and lost their opening game against Romania... after the game, the keeper's brother was assassinated back home in Colombia... I mean how can you play in this type of pressure??

- Then the next game vs USA, Andres scored own goal... and everyone knowing Colombia turmoil kind of expected him to be dead...

- The whole Colombia team had great players besides Andres... they played so exciting... almost like Brazilian soccer

- After the Andres assassination, players from the team quit soccer, and Pablo was killed too... and noone was able to finance the Colombia soccer... their league reported bankruptcy for half the teams. Since noone financed, the Colombia top players went overseas, and they could not afford international players, coaches to come and facilities... their soccer standing dropped from 4th to 28th and further down and down... and they have never qualified for the World Cup since...

 

 

It's just incredible... a great soccer nation is buried because of expectations, political turmoil, constant violence and crimes and lack of financing. Force, you still live in Colombia? You have comments about this? I had never known Colombia was a powerhouse...

[fish7718]

[Multi-Billionaire]

When he put his hands on his face, it's not just like any other own goal... it's "I'm dead"... for real.

[fish7718]

When he put his hands on his face, it's not just like any other own goal... it's "I'm dead"... for real.

sad story, pathetic "fans" killed their own team

[YugoRocketsFan]

Thats pretty messed.

[Force]

Those years with Pibe Valderama, Rincon, Escobar...etc. running the show were pretty much our glory days. It really, really sucks it had to end like that.

 

Pablo Escobar is the most dangerous man that's ever walked this earth, imo. I've read tons of him, and basically to sum up his philosophy, if things didn't go his way, you and your family were dead. It really sucks because we had a real good chance to win it if it wasn't for the pressure from the mafia and gamblers. How can anybody play their style of game with tranquility knowing if they [expletive] up once...their families are on the line? It's impossible, and stories like this make Colombia look like a [expletive]-hole, and a horrible place to live.

 

Stupid since that IS how people prolly think of this country. omg ur colombian? go get me some cocaine! lol

 

It's dumb, since its not even like that.

[YugoRocketsFan]

Those years with Pibe Valderama, Rincon, Escobar...etc. running the show were pretty much our glory days. It really, really sucks it had to end like that.

 

Pablo Escobar is the most dangerous man that's ever walked this earth, imo. I've read tons of him, and basically to sum up his philosophy, if things didn't go his way, you and your family were dead. It really sucks because we had a real good chance to win it if it wasn't for the pressure from the mafia and gamblers. How can anybody play their style of game with tranquility knowing if they [expletive] up once...their families are on the line? It's impossible, and stories like this make Colombia look like a [expletive]-hole, and a horrible place to live.

 

Stupid since that IS how people prolly think of this country. omg ur colombian? go get me some cocaine! lol

 

It's dumb, since its not even like that.

 

Yeah, id rather have that reputation, people keep asking me to go ethnic cleansing with them, im like wtf.

[Force]

Yeah, id rather have that reputation, people keep asking me to go ethnic cleansing with them, im like wtf.

I'd rather just not have any sort of negative reputation lol.

[Multi-Billionaire]

Those years with Pibe Valderama, Rincon, Escobar...etc. running the show were pretty much our glory days. It really, really sucks it had to end like that.

 

Pablo Escobar is the most dangerous man that's ever walked this earth, imo. I've read tons of him, and basically to sum up his philosophy, if things didn't go his way, you and your family were dead. It really sucks because we had a real good chance to win it if it wasn't for the pressure from the mafia and gamblers. How can anybody play their style of game with tranquility knowing if they [expletive] up once...their families are on the line? It's impossible, and stories like this make Colombia look like a [expletive]-hole, and a horrible place to live.

 

Stupid since that IS how people prolly think of this country. omg ur colombian? go get me some cocaine! lol

 

It's dumb, since its not even like that.

 

But on the bright side to soccer, Pablo used his wealth to finance soccer league and teams... I agree though the messed up things was he would kill if things did not go his way or his teams did not win. He killed refs.

 

I kind of feel for Colombia national team... they have talent but the situations make it impossible for them to shine.

 

It's said between 1990-1994 Colombia had the highest rate of crime in the world... and by 2009 which was just one year ago, that was reduced by half... which should be still pretty damn high.

 

Force, my question is how is the situation there? Are there still mafias and drug lords killing when things do not go their way... how is soccer there? Is it still competitive or are players still fearing their lives?

 

I had some Colombia housemates here, I never realized the degree of turmoil there... but to be honest I don't know the current state of Colombia is. Could you share?

[Force]

But on the bright side to soccer, Pablo used his wealth to finance soccer league and teams... I agree though the messed up things was he would kill if things did not go his way or his teams did not win. He killed refs.

 

I kind of feel for Colombia national team... they have talent but the situations make it impossible for them to shine.

 

It's said between 1990-1994 Colombia had the highest rate of crime in the world... and by 2009 which was just one year ago, that was reduced by half... which should be still pretty damn high.

 

Force, my question is how is the situation there? Are there still mafias and drug lords killing when things do not go their way... how is soccer there? Is it still competitive or are players still fearing their lives?

 

I had some Colombia housemates here, I never realized the degree of turmoil there... but to be honest I don't know the current state of Colombia is. Could you share?

It's not even close to being what it was during those years like the stats indicate. That's when everybody was after Pablo, and he would arrange car explosions, to send a message to the Colombian government to not [expletive] with them. He would kill judges, and presidential candidates if they were promoting things of his dislike. Basically, Pablo was the reason for all of Colombia's crime...yeah he might have done some good things for the poor, but that was pretty much to gain their trust, so they could share information he needed to stay alive and away from the police.

 

There's still drug lords, but I think Mexico has taken the crown away from us in that department. Soccer is good I guess..not nearly as good as it was before, but if I can compare it to a country here that made the world cup..its prolly at Uruguay/Paraguay status.

 

Colombia has improved since those years but there's the Farc, gorillas, paramilitares to fight against.

 

And even with all that happening, people here are prolly some of the hardest working, and happiest in the world, always looking for the positive in everything.