WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : Spotlight : SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED

Under the headline “A cocktail of excuses,” Victor Rosas of Bogota’s daily newspaper El Tiempo wrote Friday about Colombia:

“Bomb threats, internal tensions, tears, resignations, an excess of triumphalism, intestinal fights on the field, idols versus idols, lack of leadership, vetoes. . . . What else? You can include everything, because everything fits in this bottomless (pit). It is simply the most typical result of a cultural problem, now a historical problem, that affects not only soccer but Colombian sports in general.”