My colombo-gringo World Cup fandom journey

Submitted by harmon40 on

I loved Brian's piece the other day regarding his World Cup fandom journey and thought I might share a little about my own. My World Cup fandom journey began in 1985, nine years before I saw my first World Cup game on TV. 

I was sitting in the office of my Spanish teacher in East Quad, expressing my doubts about my ability to handle an 8 credit hour intensive pass/fail course that has been compared to giving a canary a drink with a firehose.  My Chilean teacher didn't exactly let me cry on her shoulder.  "It's not my job to give you 8 credits," she told me. "My job is to teach you Spanish. If you pass this course it will be because you read, write, speak and comprehend Spanish fluently.  If that is your goal I will help you.  If not, you should definitely look for another class." 

I decided to drop the course, then decided not to.  By the end of my freshman year I was fluent in Spanish and in love with the culture; staying in that class had changed the entire direction of my life.

Years later, in 1994, I had the opportunity to live in Bogotá, Colombia, as a missionary.  It was a dream come true for me.  My Spanish had already been solid when I arrived in Colombia; within 6 months I could understand the play-by-play during soccer telecasts and was cracking pun jokes in my second language.

January '94 seemed like an ideal time to arrive in Colombia.  The country's worst era of narco-violence was receding and Colombia was gearing up for the World Cup.  What a team they had!  Loaded to the gills with star power.  Part of their World Cup qualifying had been a 5-0 drubbing of hated soccer powerhouse Argentina - in Buenos Aires.  The entire country was enamored with the greatest Colombian national team of all time.

And then it happened: el disastre del '94.

I remember watching the Colombia-U.S. match with around 40 kids from our church youth group.  They were consoling me before the game had started.  Sure, Colombia had unexpectedly imploded vs Romania, but this was the U.S.!  An lopsided goleada was imminent.  No big deal, I told myself.  I can handle some good-natured teasing.

Then my friends all watched in horror as 26-year-old defender Andres Escobar sent an errant clearance into the Colombian net.  A 2nd U.S. goal turned the party into a funeral.  Colombia had been eliminated in group play...by the gringos.

I didn't rub it in that much.  I just couldn't.  It's hard to describe how devastated people were.  Yet as impossible as it seemed after the match with the U.S., it was about to get worse.

I was on vacation in Cartagena when the news broke that Andres Escobar had been shot and killed in his native Medellin.  I got on a public bus the next day and the faces of the people told the story: shock, disbelief, sadness, anger.  Silence. 

Watching the 30 for 30 episode The Two Escobars was an emotional experience for me.  It really has taken Colombian soccer 20 years to recover from that traumatic event.  The '98 team qualified but wasn't expected to do much, and they didn't.  Colombia would then fail to qualify in '02, '06, and '10.

Meanwhile, U.S. soccer was on the rise.  The surprising Americans stunned the world by giving eventual champion Brazil all they could handle before losing 1-0.  I was torn between feeling proud of our guys and feeling awful for my friends, who cared so much more about the World Cup than I did and whose team was actually considered to have a chance to win the tournament. 

My friends told me they would be getting revenge by proxy when the U.S. found themselves in the same group as Argentina for the '95 Copa America.  Again, I readied myself for some ridicule.  Then the U.S. went out and thumped the Argentines 3-0.  Oddly enough, we went on to make the semi-final, lose, and then find ourselves in the consolation game...to face Colombia.  Only a year after the infamous autogol match, the Colombians fired shot after shot on the American goal, winning 4-1.  It was the expected goleada - one year too late.

I wound up living in Colombia for three years.  I still love that place with everything within me, and I am still a fan of their national team.  I am blessed to have a job for which I travel extensively in the Americas (I listened to Denard's 500+ yd game vs Notre Dame via internet radio while poolside in the Dominican Republic and watched UTL 1 from a hotel room in Havana).  Colombia is a regular stop.  I can't tell you how much fun it is to see the Colombians fall in love again.

20 years after the disastrous '94 World Cup, this Colombia side is finally exorcising the demons of their soccer past. They don't have the star power of the '94 team.  All they do is win. 

On the eve of a potentially epic soccer armageddon with Brazil, the Colombians have the confidence of knowing that there is no team in the tournament (France excepted) that is playing better than their team.  The heat and humidity that has been wilting so many players and teams will not be a problem for the cafeteros.  They play their home games in Barranquilla, just as hot and humid as anything Brazil has to offer.

So tomorrow I throw on my classic 1994 Andres Escobar jersey (#2) and take my wife and daughter to the home of Colombian friends here in Chicago.  An Argentine friend is grilling the meat.  We will join three or four Colombian families in screaming our lungs bloody and hoping against hope that the cafeteros will make soccer history by making the semis for the first time in their history.  The Brazilians look vulnerable, the Colombians have the tournament's leading scorer so far, and everything seems possible again. 

The ghosts of '94 are already gone; fresh -and hopefully glorious- memories wait to be made.

 

 

Comments

HAIL 2 VICTORS

July 3rd, 2014 at 2:57 PM ^

My wife is from Cali and we grew up around Touhy and Western in the city.  If you are hanging with Willie and Esporansa or the Granada family we need to talk.  Good call letting the Argentenian do the grilling  Is is true the Escobar was assisnated back in Colombia?  

harmon40

July 3rd, 2014 at 3:22 PM ^

I think the gathering we are going to is a different one - it's out in Elgin.

Yes, sadly Andres Escobar was shot outside a bar in Paisalandia about a week after Colombia's elimination.  The 30 for 30 program has better details on it than anything else I've seen. 

When it happened, everyone imagined it must have been gamblers.  According to the film it happened after an argument with a patron at the bar who unfortunately turned out to be a pretty significant drug trafficker in that region.  Apparently he then ordered one of his bodyguards to follow Escobar to the parking lot and kill him.

It definitely sounds crazy that even a criminal would have someone killed on a whim like that, but...there are places even today in Colombia one must be sure not to offend the honor of the wrong person.

BTW - In case you weren't already aware, there is an Argentine grill in Chicago called Tango Sur.  It's close to Wrigley.  Parking is hard to find around there but the food is amazing. 

http://folklorechicago.com/tangosur/index.html

mgobaran

July 3rd, 2014 at 3:26 PM ^

Thanks for sharing. Great read, and I love all the WC/Soccer talk on here.

Oddly, my fascination with the USMNT all started because of the ladies. The first soccer matches I ever watched was that World Cup. And this picture sealed it for me.

So yeah, I was 9 years old and got a funny feeling when the top came off. But even at that age understood the passion soccer players and fans had. All I am thinking is "this woman just ripped her shirt off in front of millions of people because she scored. This stuff must really be important."

So my focus shifted to the men's side of things. And naturally my patriotism escaladed my fandom to the current point. I think Spencer (sbnation) summed up where I am now with soccer best in his article after the Belgium game. 

Welcome to a world of trying to find beIn Sports on a pirate feed at 11:30 p.m. on a weeknight.

goblueram

July 3rd, 2014 at 4:48 PM ^

Interesting story, thanks for sharing. 

I'll be following the game from Chicago as well, but probably while sitting out on the beach.  Good luck to Colombia!