Andres Escobar: A Fatal Own Goal
By: Daniel Duque
The Colombian national team during the match against USA.
Photo courtesy of Bleacher Report
In 1993, the South American qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup USA 1994 were on its last stage. The Colombian national team was showing an outstanding performance by winning most of their games. However, they had one last challenge to qualify directly to the tournament which was to defeat the leader of the group, Argentina in their home stadium, considered a difficult field to play at for visiting teams.
On Sept. 5 of 1993, Colombia showed one of their best performances and surprised the Argentine national team with a 5-0 away win in a packed Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires. This resulted in Colombia qualifying directly to the World Cup, while Argentina had to play a two-legged play-off against the winner of the Oceania confederation.
Expectations were high from supporters and Colombian media who claimed they were candidates to make it far in the competition, with the outstanding performance from the Colombian team. During the 1990's, Colombians were struggling against drug cartel violence that increased after the Medellin cartel dissolved following Pablo Escobar's execution and the subsequent rise of Cali cartel. The Colombian national team traveled to the 1994 World Cup under a lot of pressure from fans including cartel members who had bet big amounts of money on the team.
Colombia was matched against Switzerland, Romania, and United States during the group stage.
Colombia started the competition with a 1-3 defeat against Romania. The team was not showing the level that made them succeed during the qualifiers. For Romania, Gheorghe Hagi and Florin Radocioiu scored and for Colombia, Adolfo Valencia. After this match, death threats against the team started to take place which affected the players morally.
Andres Escobar defending against a Romanian Player.
Photo courtesy of Marca
For the following match Colombia had to play against the host of the competition, United States. The Colombians were forced to win to continue in the fight for the title. However, they lost this match with a score of 2-1. For the US, Colombian player Andres Escobar scored an own goal and Earnie Stewart extended their lead. For Colombia, Adolfo Valencia reduced the difference with a last minute goal. This result caused Colombia to get eliminated from the tournament despite 2-0 win against Switzerland during the following game.
After Colombia's elimination, Escobar returned to his home town in Medellin, Colombia despite the warnings of his family and friends to lie low since fans were upset because of their performance in the world cup and his own goal.
On the night of July 2 of 1994, Escobar went out with friends to a nightclub in Medellin and after exiting the building and while he sat in his car, he was shot six times by members of a drug cartel and according to reports, each shot represented each time the match's commentator repeated the word "goal" during the broadcast.
Andres Escobar was an outstanding player who unfortunately lost his life due to an error and the lack of acceptance towards his own goal. He will always be remembered for being a historic figure in Colombian Soccer.