* World Cup quarter-final live from Fortaleza * Read Barney Ronay on Neymar v Rodríguez * Give Scott and Rob Smyths MBM book a whirl * And you can email scott.murray@theguardian 7.30pm BST Twenty long years ago, Colombia went into the World Cup as one of the favourites, alongside usual suspects Brazil, Argentina and Germany. They had been tipped to win the whole damn thing by industry experts such as Terry Venables and Trevor Brooking. (Poor much-maligned Pelé hadnt gone rogue; plenty of people were saying it.) But Francisco Maturanas team couldnt live up to the promise generated by an unbeaten qualification campaign which had climaxed in an astonishing 5-0 demolition of Argentina in Buenos Aires. Los Cafeteros became the first team to be knocked out of USA 94, a painful experience for the countrys golden generation of Carlos Valderrama, Faustino Asprilla et al, and one which descended into tragedy when defender Andrés Escobar was murdered back home in Medellin, ten days after scoring an own goal against the hosts. This ill-fated campaign is the first thing that springs to most minds whenever Colombia is mentioned in the context of World Cups. Well, that or overly ostentatious goalkeeper Rene Higuita fannying around on the halfway line to Cameroon striker Roger Millas gleeful benefit at Italia 90. Either way, its about time a truly positive chapter was added to Colombias World Cup story. Continue reading... #London #UK #News
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 18:56:55 +0000
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