Reaching into its past, Colombia steps forward

Reaching into its past, Colombia steps forward

By GLENN DAVIS
For the Chronicle

Colombia always has been one of the proud soccer-playing nations of South America.

Colombia was defined in the 1990s by legendary players such as Carlos Valderrama, Leonel Alvarez and shoulder-padded goalkeeper Rene Higuita.

Led by revered coach Francisco Maturana, the team reached two World Cups. Maturana become a national hero.

Colombia's style was clearly defined by a short passing game that, when it was on, was a mix of pure beauty and scintillating rhythm.

It so became the team's purpose that in World Cup 1994, the Colombian team refused to use the width of the field, which became part of the team's undoing.

It was a World Cup that even the great Pelé believed the Colombians could win.

But with players milling in the hotel lobby at all hours doing interviews, along with reputed underworld involvement, the World Cup in 1994 unraveled for Colombia.

The team's elimination was accented by the death of defender Andres Escobar in a post World Cup shooting in Colombia.

Part of Colombia's style was evident with the team Sunday in the Gold Cup, reminding us of the great teams of the past and the great soccer culture the country possesses.

Flag-waving, nationalistic Colombians were evident at Reliant Stadium in the crowd of 60,000 as Colombia dismantled Mexico 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup.

The victory set up today's match with Panama in the semifinals at Giants Stadium.

Losing 1-0 in group play to Panama makes me believe Colombia will advance in the semifinal; this team has gathered confidence after the biggest upset of the Gold Cup.

Colombia has new-found confidence, not only in the Gold Cup but in South American World Cup qualifying, where the team is in fifth place.

New coach Reinaldo Rueda, who took over for Maturana, has won four times and tied four times to bring hope back to Colombia.

His achievements have been remarkable.

His young squad at the Gold Cup looked impressive against Mexico, and Rueda clearly won the battle of tactics against Mexico and its coach, Ricardo La Volpe.

Rueda has a great working knowledge of the youth of Colombia due to coaching its youth teams at the under-17, -20 and -23 age levels.

His alignment of players, plus the speed and pace of Tressor Moreno, Jair Patino and Wason Renteria, gave Mexico many problems.

But it made sense. Mexico had struggled mightily with South Africa in dealing with the pace of the strikers.

La Volpe did not pick a team that had enough team speed to deal with this Gold Cup competition, and Rueda knew it.

Colombia's 4-3-3 setup morphed into a 4-4-2 when possession was lost and proved troubling and disruptive to Mexico's midfield, which had dominated Jamaica.

Colombia's back four moved together beautifully as a unit. It was a joy to watch veteran goalkeeper Farid Mondragon work with his backs, who yielded little space.

Colombia, without a number of its veteran players, reminded us of what this tournament is about.

Grooming youth, building the depth of national programs, securing confidence and, of course, that little thing called winning.

Glenn Davis covers soccer for the Chronicle.

gdavis98 at swbell.net

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/soc/3275482

By ColombianoX on Jul 21, 2005, 11:08 in Friendly Talkzone.

Peter Miami says on Jul 21, 2005, 11:12:

Go Colombia good luck.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kernow62 says on Jul 21, 2005, 12:56:

Match is on on east coast of US at 9 PM on Telefutura. The USA vs Honduras match is on prior to that.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Antioqueñita says on Jul 21, 2005, 14:55:

I hope they come back! I was a Nacional fan as a good paisa and Leonel Alvarez & Higuita were like Gods for us and I met them both...

Who can foget the Scorpion Kick by Higuita?

"Que Viva Medellin!"

"Que Viva Medellin!"

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kernow62 says on Jul 21, 2005, 17:17:

I just remember Higuita coming too far off his line for his own good sometimes. ;-)

0 funny, 0 helpful.