Andres Escobar Saldarriaga (Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga) or Andres Escobar, was a player in the Colombian national football team, and he was a central defender. He played for the Colombian club “Atlético Nacional” and the Swiss club “BSC Young Boys”.
He was assassinated after he accidentally scored a goal against his team, which led to his country's elimination from the first round of the World Cup in the United States of America in 1994. He was called the elegant player, due to his elegant style of play and his calmness on the field.
The fatal goal scored by Andres Escobar Saldariaga against his team in the 1994 World Cup (French - archive)
Birth and upbringing
Andres Escobar was born in Medellin on March 13, 1967, Colombia, and grew up in a middle-class family.
He attended Colegio Calasanz and graduated from Conrado González.
He played football at an early age, at the level of school teams, before he became a professional football player at the age of 18 in the Colombian club “Atlético Nacional” in 1985.
His father, Dario Escobar, worked as a banker in a banking institution in Colombia, and founded a sports association to encourage young people to play football and save them from homelessness and loss in the city streets.
Dario had a second son named Santiago, who also played football alongside Andres in the Colombian club Atletico Nacional.
Colombian fans hold up a picture of Andres Escobar Saldariaga in one of the 1998 World Cup matches in France (French - archive)
his sports career
Andres Escobar began his professional career with the Colombian club "Atletico Nacional" in 1985, and won the "Copa Libertadores" title with him in 1989, before going on a short professional trip to the Swiss club "BSC Young Boys", for one year. After that, he returned to his parent club (Atletico Nacional) in 1990, and continued with him until 1994.
And press reports had quoted his father as saying that Andres was close to signing a professional contract with the Italian club "AC Milan", immediately after the World Cup in America, but the assassination kidnapped him before that and prevented him from continuing his sports career.
Andres Escobar made his debut with the Colombian national team - with whom he played 50 matches throughout his career - on March 30, 1988, when he was only 21 years old.
This was in the friendly match between the Colombian national team and the Canadian national team, which ended with Colombia's victory (3-0).
As for international competitions, Andres’ first participation with his country was in the Rous Cup competition in 1988, a competition in which Andres scored his only goal in his career for the national team, in the match in which he faced England, which ended in a tie. (1-1).
In the year 1989, Andres Escobar played 4 matches with his country in the "Copa America", which Brazil hosted at the time, at the age of 22, and eliminated the Colombian team from the first round of the tournament, after it came third in the standings of Group A, which included Brazil, Paraguay, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.
In the same year, Escobar played with his country in the qualifiers for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, which was held in Italy.
The Colombian team was the first in the second group standings, but it had to play in the "CONMEBOL" decisive match, where Colombia won (1-0) on aggregate against Israel, and thus qualified for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
Escobar played all the matches that Colombia played in the first round, and qualified with him to the round of 16, before Cameroon eliminated him after defeating him (2-1).
After the 1990 World Cup, Escobar was summoned to the Colombian national team to compete in the 1991 Copa America, which was hosted by Chile, where he participated in 7 matches, and Colombia ranked fourth, behind Argentina, the champion of the competition, Brazil, the runner-up, and Chile, the host of the tournament.
And at the level of the 1994 World Cup qualifiers, Escobar did not participate in any match with his country, but he was called up for the World Cup finals hosted by America, and Colombia was eliminated from the first round of this competition, after two surprising defeats against Romania (3-1) and America (2). -1) and a win against Switzerland (1-2).
Andres Escobar Saldariaga in a World Cup 1994 match in the United States (Getty Images)
Play amid terror and fear
“Life does not end there, we have to go on the journey; life cannot end here. No matter how hard it is, we have to get up, we have only two options: either let the anger paralyze us and let the violence continue, or we will overcome it by helping each other as best we can. It's up to us to choose, please be respectful. I kiss you all, it's been an amazing journey and an experience I've never had the chance to live, see you soon because life doesn't stop there."
These were the words of Andres Escobar, the captain of the Colombian national football team, after his country's exit from the World Cup in 1994.
Escobar was behind scoring the "killer" goal against his team during the match that brought them together in the United States of America for the first group in the city of Pasadena, nicknamed the City of Roses.
This fatal error led to the sudden exclusion of the powerful Colombian team from the first round of the World Cup finals, and this message of the player heralded a state of fear surrounding the components of the Colombian national team.
Andres Escobar, 27 years old at the time, was at the top of his game, and was one of the main pillars of the Colombian national team that was making the event prior to the start of the 1994 World Cup competition in the United States, after the impressive results he was achieving at the time under the leadership of the famous coach "Francisco Maturana" (Francisco maturana).
And he was one of the largest teams nominated to go far in that version of the World Cup competition, as he was among the teams chosen by the former Brazilian star Pele, in order to mark a strong participation, especially after the “Tricolor” team finished its qualification for the World Cup with a landslide victory over Argentina Maradona in the Argentine capital (Buenos Aires) with a score (5-0), in addition to the fact that the Colombian national team was not defeated before going to the World Cup in America except once in 26 matches.
This great glow of the Colombian national team was accompanied by difficult economic and political conditions that the country experienced at that time, especially after the killing of the famous drug mafia leader, "Pablo Escobar" (Pablo Escobar) in December 1993, as this assassination had dire consequences, especially after the crimes came out. out of control on the streets of Medellin, which affected the surroundings of the "tricolor" team, which was preparing for a great adventure in the United States.
Pablo Escobar, the "cocaine king" at the time, was the owner of the "Atletico Nacional" club, which was a convenient way for him to launder the money he earned from the drug trade.
With financial support from Escobar, the club won the Libertadores Cup in 1989, and at that time it included a group of stars, including defender Andres Escobar.
In light of this difficult context in which Colombia was living, the players of the "Cafeteros" team began preparing for the World Forum in Michigan, all hoping to achieve good results that would raise the spirits of the Colombian people who breathe football.
With their first match against Romania approaching, Maturana's men began to feel the pressure, fearing defeat.
Thus, the “Tricolor” team started the competition with a big loss against the Romanian national team, which in turn included in its ranks great stars such as “Gheorghe Hagi”, “Florin Raducioiu” and “Georghe Popescu”. ), and Dan Petrescu, among others.
Hagi and Raduccio smashed Colombia's defense and beat them (3-1), this result made Colombia start the competition very badly and angered its supporters and bettors who lost huge sums of money in the betting competitions.
The morale of the players fell further when defender Luis Herrera lost his brother during the World Cup in a tragic car accident shortly after the defeat against Romania, and he was also the victim of the kidnapping of his son before the World Cup.
Andres Escobar Saldariaga during his country's match with the United States in the 1994 World Cup (French - archive)
Killer target
And before their second match against the host country, the United States of America, the Colombian players had collapsed due to the fear and panic they were living in after a series of threats from the country, which threatened them with physical liquidation if they did not achieve the result of victory.
As for the Colombian city of Medellin, it was living in the rhythm of chaos and terror, and the counter did not stop recording the deaths that fell every day.
The players knew very well that these intimidating messages were not to be taken lightly.
Even the coach Maturana became depressed during the team meeting, when the entire team received death threats if the player "Gabriel 'Barrabas' Gómez" was included in the official squad against the United States, knowing that Barabas was a key element in the Maturana system, but it was It is necessary to give in to the pressure and exclude him from the main squad.
On the day of the match, fear seeped into the hearts of the players, and this was evident from the first minutes of the match.
In the 35th minute, American player John Harkes sent a cross into the Colombian national team's operations box. Andres Escobar tried to intercept the pass and take it to the corner, but he mistakenly turned it into his team's goal to the right of the Colombian goalkeeper Oscar Cordoba. Cordoba).
This "killer" goal was the last goal scored by Andres Escobar, who undoubtedly knew at that moment what this goal would mean if he failed to correct the error and turn the result in favor of the Colombian team.
His team mates knew that, too, but they couldn't get back into the game, and worse, USA pulled one back in the second half through Ernie Stewart.
Then the Colombian player, Adolfo Valencia, narrowed the difference with a goal in the last minutes, but it was not enough to avoid the second defeat, which means exit from the first round of the competition.
Escobar's teammates were well aware of the seriousness of the situation.
The Colombian team won the third and final match against Switzerland (2-1), but it was a tasteless victory after the early exit from the World Cup finals.
Andres Escobar Saldariaga at the 1994 World Cup in America (Getty Images)
Face death
After returning to Colombia, Andres Escobar was very grumpy about this bitter exclusion, and about his own mistake that contributed to it.
He decided to stay at home and surround himself with his family and friends.
About 9 days after the Colombian national team returned from America, the hesitant Escobar decided, one evening, to go out into the street and meet people.
Despite the advice of his relatives and coach Maturana, the Colombian international insisted on going out and "showing his face" to the people, but unfortunately, this insistence led to the end of his life.
On the second of July / July 1994, while Escobar was enjoying an evening with his friends at the nightclub "El Indio Bar" in the city of Medellin, he was called by a group of men, among whom were the "Gallón" brothers, known to belong to mafia gangs city, and showered him with a barrage of insults, insults and insulting words.
And when Escobar was about to leave the nightclub in the early hours of the morning, the same group followed him and continued insulting and insulting him, repeating the phrase "Against your goal ... you traitor."
And when he confronted them to defend himself and his team, the private driver of the "Galón" brothers, Humberto Muñoz Castro, shot him with 6 bullets in the back, shouting "GOAL" with each shot.
And he repeated the process 6 times, which is the number of shouts made by the match commentator during which Andres scored the reverse goal against his own goal.
The group then drove away in their own car, leaving Escobar to bleed to death. He was rushed to hospital, but died 45 minutes later.
The killer was arrested on the same night, and in 1995 he was convicted of 43 years in prison, but he only served 11 years of it and was released in 2005, benefiting from “good behavior”, which the late family did not like and considered it “a disgrace to Colombia”, and it still is. She defends her son's right and demands compensation for this injustice.
A huge funeral was held for the Colombian defender, attended by nearly 100,000 people, in Medellin, who expressed their grief for the loss of the man who was one of the most beloved celebrities in the country, as he drove his car through the city's streets on Christmas Eve every year, distributing gifts to the city's deprived children. .
Colombia witnesses the commemoration of Andres Escobar's death every year, and in 2002 the city of Medellin erected a statue of him and called him "the Immortal", wanting to immortalize his name forever in the history of Colombian football.
Awards and titles
Qualifying for the 1990 World Cup Final, with the Colombian national team.
Fourth place in the 1991 Copa America Championship, with the Colombian national team.
The Libertadores Cup in 1989, with the Colombian club Atletico Nacional.
South American Cup in 1990, with the Colombian club "Atletico Nacional".
Colombia Championship in 1991 and 1994, with the Colombian club "Atletico Nacional".