FRANCE 98 – Team Detail

After a 28 year absence from the World Cup, Colombia, taken in charge by Francisco Maturana in the late ’80’s, suddenly made their presence felt by qualifying for three consecutive World Cups.

Thanks to a group of young, talented players, Colombia reached the last 16 in the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy, finally going out to Cameroon and Roger Milla 2-1 in extra time. During the 1994 World Cup qualifying stage Colombia showed their class by reaching the finals without difficulty. Along the way they ran over Argentina 5-0 at the Stade Monumental in Buenos Aires on September 5, 1993.

Unfortunately Colombia were unable to rid themselves of the ‘outsider’ tag. In the finals in the United States they finished last in their group behind Romania, Switzerland and the United States. Defender Andres Escobar, who scored an own goal in the match against the United States, was gunned down by a fanatical supporter on July 2, 1994, shortly after returning to his home town of Madelin.

After the 1994 finals, coach Francisco Maturana was replaced by his deputy, Hernan Dario Gomez. Slowly but surely, Gomez began to remodel the team but without making any major changes. He retained Carlos Valderrama, who despite being 36, was still the team’s play maker, as well as striker Faustino Asprilla. Colombia made it to the finals in France by finishing third in their zone behind Argentina and Paraguay.

On the international stage, the only notable results by Colombia were reaching the final of the Copa America in 1975 and twice finishing third in the competition in 1993 and 1995. As for Colombian club sides, the best result was achieved by Atletico Nacional Medellin by winning the Copa Libertadores in 1989. The coach was Francisco Maturana.