USA '94, sadly, had a more serious consequence other than the light-hearted moments (see yesterday). Andres Escobar, the Colombian defender who scored an own goal in his country's surprise 2-1 defeat to the USA was shot dead on his return to Colombia. It has long been argued whether his death had anything to do with the goal, or if it was drug-war related. Regardless, it was a sad event of meaningless violence and death to happen during the World Cup.
Colombia's disappointing performance in the US pales into significance when compared to the murder of a player. But it really was a terrible couple of weeks for Colombians. The previous September Colombia had produced one of their most memorable wins of all time, a 5-0 win against Argentina in Buenos Aires to comfortably qualify for the World Cup. Colombians were excited about their team's prospects in the US. Neutrals were excited to see Rincon, Valderrama and Asprilla. But they opened the tournament with a 3-1 defeat to Romania and that was followed by the upset to the Americans. A 2-0 win against the Swiss in the final group match was too little, too late.
In a way it was the end of an era, another one of those "Golden Generations" that failed to deliver. Rincon, Asprilla and Valderrama were still there in 1998 but Colombia seemed to have lost their magic. Ironically, their opening match in 1998 was a 1-0 defeat to Romania, and again they were eliminated in the first round.
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