The following play from the 1994 World Cup in the U.S. cost Colombian defender Andres Escobar his life.
Ten days after scoring for the Americans during his team’s eventual 2-1 defeat and sealing Colombia’s departure from the World Cup, Escobar was murdered in his home country. Eventually, a drug cartel bodyguard was jailed for the crime.
Ahead of Colombia’s match against England later on today, Escobar’s brother Sachi revealed he was fearful a similar fate could befall a member of this year’s World Cup team should they fail to advance.
One of Colombia’s players, Carlos Sanchez, already received death threats during the tournament after he was sent off with a red card in his team’s 2-1 defeat against Japan for a handball in the third minute.
After learning about the threats against Sanchez, Sachi Escobar said Colombia had “learned nothing” from what happened to his brother in 1994.
“As a brother who has gone through this, I know what must be going through their heads, and I wouldn’t want anyone to go through that,” he said. “Carlos must be feeling both sad for the mistake he made, and very afraid, and his family too. My brother never received any threats, they just shot him dead in the most cowardly way.”
The match will take place later today at 2 p.m. England is favored to advance.
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