WORLD CUP JOURNAL : WORLD CUP / USA 1994 : The Rhumba Express Rides on Pride, Joy
Like some runaway apparition from the Andes, the rainbow-hued bus chugged eastward through the San Fernando Valley, its boisterous occupants dancing and singing in the aisles, gulping shots of anise-flavored aguardiente, and flaunting their homeland’s flag to passing motorists and pedestrians.
“This is like a little piece of Colombia in the middle of Los Angeles,”’ said an ecstatic Gustavo Canas, the organizer and musical arranger of the bus, known as the Rhumba Express. “We want to show the world our euphoria and happiness.”
Their destination: Pasadena, site of the Rose Bowl’s opening World Cup match Saturday between the national teams of Colombia and Romania.
The Colombian squad seemed to play the role of home team, its many boosters drawn from those who flew up for the game, as well as immigrants and their offspring. Throughout the Rose Bowl rippled a veritable sea of curly blond wigs, inspired by the exotic hairstyle favored by Carlos Valderrama, the star Colombia midfielder.
“I felt a need to accompany my team, “ said Jose Fernando Tapias, from Bogota. To defray his expenses, Tapias peddled team photos, blond wigs and plastic likenesses of team members.
He and others gathered early Saturday at Van Nuys’ Cali Viejo restaurant, which organized the expedition using an authentic Colombian-style bus known as a chiva . The ride to Pasadena was like something out of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez tale, a festive patriotic hour of pregame revelry to the pulsing beat of Colombia’s unique Afro-Caribbean-Andean music.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this. It’s overwhelming,” said Francisco Restrepo, a California native of Colombian parentage.
Upon arriving at the Rose Bowl’s expansive parking lots, the passengers melded into the throngs of animated Colombian fans. A group of 30 visitors from Cali marched outside the stadium to the rhythmic chant of “Co-lom-bi-a! Co-lom-bi-a! Co-lom-bi-a!”
After the Colombians lost 3-1 to a tough Romanian squad, the stunned Colombians faced a long ride home. Many shed their blond wigs in disappointment but vowed their heroes would improve their performance Wednesday against the U.S. team.
“It’s too early to give up,” said Humberto Romero, an audiovisual specialist who came from Washington. “We’ll be back strong for the next game.”
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Things were somewhat dreary for law enforcement officers, who have been preparing the World Cup security plan for two years and had braced for possible rowdy behavior that often occurs at soccer matches in Europe and South America.
Calling the day “virtually incident-free,” Pasadena Police Cmdr. Mary Schander said: “The first World Cup came and went with virtually no problems.”
There were relatively few arrests--and most of them for ticket scalping. A Romanian woman fell and broke her leg. A car caught on fire. And the bomb squad had to be called in to investigate a suspicious briefcase. It was just a briefcase.
After the game, sheriff’s deputies on horseback were posing for tourist photographs. Later, things did become more tense as thousands of fans anxious to go home waited for their shuttle buses to arrive.
But so trouble-free was the afternoon that some of the 400 sheriff’s deputies around the stadium were being sent home early. “It’s (been) real smooth,” said deputy Ron Pearce.
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Pasadena glided through its first World Cup with a slight yawn.
“O.J. Simpson disrupted me more,” said Jeff Shaddock, as he bicycled with a friend through a tree-lined neighborhood of gracious old homes near the stadium. “It’s like this every year for the Rose Bowl, so I think they’ve got it down pretty well.”
“They’ve done a very fine job this year in controlling the traffic,” said Bob Scott, standing in front of his Rosemont Avenue home. “Generally, it’s gridlocked.”
His 14-year-old son Alex had set up a soda stand on the sidewalk with a group of friends to profit from thirsty fans trekking to and from the bowl. They made more than $400.
In Old Town Pasadena, the soccer fans were so well behaved, they could only be distinguished by their T-shirts and caps. Otherwise, they blended into the usual Saturday night throngs that pack the sidewalk of Colorado Boulevard.
Merchants reported that business was about normal, although rose vendors said sales were down. “It’s killing us,” said Kacie Case, who had not sold a single rose in her 45 minutes on the street.
