World Cup ’94 : WORLD CUP USA ’94 / GROUP A PREVIEW : Playing It Fast and Loose : Colombia Goes Against the Norm With an Attacking Offense That Makes It One of the Favorites
“The best team from South America is Colombia. There’s no doubt about that. They have a chance to be in the final.”
The rose-colored view of a Colombian fan? The bold prediction of a Colombian player? The optimistic hope of a Colombian coach?
No. That glowing tribute to South America’s newest soccer power came from Pele. If anyone can recognize talent, Pele can. After all, he inspired Brazil to three World Cup triumphs.
So when Pele says Colombia is good, it’s good.
The team created and crafted by Coach Francisco Maturana is almost everyone’s favorite dark horse to win the World Cup. If it does, it will be the first to break the monopoly of Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, Uruguay and England, the only Cup winners.
There is a worldwide feeling that it is time a new name was engraved on the trophy, and the field has two legitimate candidates--the Netherlands and Colombia.
Strangely enough, Maturana has tried to downplay Colombia’s chances. He has purposely diverted attention, indicating there are more important items on Colombia’s agenda than simply success.
He wants nothing less than to change Colombia’s international image.
“All Colombian sportsmen, not just soccer players, have to try to show the world that our country is not all bad,” Maturana said last year in reference to Colombia’s reputation as a haven for drug traffickers. “Of course we have problems, but there is a lot more than just the negative side.”
More recently, as the players have started to believe the World Cup is not beyond their reach even though Colombia never has advanced beyond the second round, Maturana has simply smiled.
“There’s no sin in dreaming,” he said.
Colombia’s worldwide popularity is due to its style of play. Not for Colombia, the dour, defend-at-all-costs strategy of some other teams. Attack is the name of the game; attack and entertain.
“We are going to the World Cup to enjoy ourselves,” Maturana said. “If we win, that will be a bonus. I would rather we play well and make a good impression than win with the competition playing badly.”
Since finishing third in last summer’s Copa America, or South American Championship, in Ecuador, Colombia has been virtually unbeatable. Its biggest victory was the 5-0 rout of Argentina in Buenos Aires in World Cup qualifying play. That result rocked the soccer world and suddenly caused it to take notice of the Colombians.
Just as important and impressive, however, was an earlier 2-1 victory over Argentina in Baranquilla that snapped Argentina’s 31-game unbeaten streak.
Small wonder, then, that since arriving in the United States, Colombia has attracted record crowds--57,000 in Miami to see it defeat Italian and European champion AC Milan, 2-1; 21,153 at Foxboro Stadium to see it beat Northern Ireland, 2-0; 73,511 at Giants Stadium to see it defeat Greece, 2-0.
Clearly, Colombia is the hot team of the moment, a fact not lost on its three first-round opponents: Romania, the United States and Switzerland.
“We try to be a balanced team,” Maturana said. “We view soccer not as offensive or defensive. We have to create when we have the ball and recover when we don’t.”
It helps, of course, to have a nucleus of world-class players, as Maturana does, and reserves who would be starting on most national teams. Talent in depth is one key to Colombia’s success.
The pivotal player is midfielder Carlos Valderrama, South America’s player of the year in 1987 and again in 1993. With a startling mop of hair, an apparently easy-going attitude and skills polished to perfection, Valderrama is, in the words of U.S. assistant coach Sigi Schmid, “worth the price of admission all by himself.”
The action flows all around Valderrama, who casually strolls the midfield distributing perfect passes or opening up space for teammates such as fellow midfielder Freddy Rincon to exploit.
Much of the media attention around the Colombian team centers on striker Faustino Asprilla, a brilliant forward nicknamed “the Gazelle” by Colombian fans. But Rincon scored five of Colombia’s goals in qualifying play while Asprilla netted only a couple.
Not that Colombia lacks for top-class forwards. In addition to Asprilla, who scored 10 goals this season for his Italian club, Parma, there is Adolfo (Train) Valencia, whose nickname says it all. He has power and speed and already has won one championship this year, helping Bayern Munich capture the Bundesliga title in Germany by scoring 11 goals.
In addition, Victor Hugo Aristizabal has proved his goal-scoring prowess during the run-in to the tournament, as has Ivan Valenciano.
Other likely starters include defenders Luis Carlos Perea, who was impressive in the Copa America but was slowed by injury after that and is only now getting back to top form, Andres Escobar, Wilson Perez and Luis Herrera.
Colombia’s most famous player from World Cup ‘90, goalkeeper Rene Higuita, is not on the team. He fell afoul of the law in Colombia because of his involvement in helping negotiate the release of a kidnap victim for a fee and spent half a year in jail. He faces further charges and no longer is considered in the national-team picture.
His replacement is Oscar Cordoba, a less adventurous, less spectacular but more reliable goalkeeper. He also has the confidence to predict that “Colombia is going to go far in the World Cup.”
The one team likely to stand in Colombia’s way is Brazil, and already the psychological games have begun.
“Colombia’s players like to show off, but in a World Cup you have to play seriously,” said Tele Santana, Brazil’s former national-team coach.
“Colombia is a fine team and it has been playing together for a long time,” said Brazil’s current coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira. “But it is not used to playing under pressure and there will be a lot of pressure at the World Cup.”
Maturana, of course, has heard this all before, but he’s still smiling. He knows his players. The pressure will be on the other teams.
