Drugs, Murder, And The World Cup Part 3: The Narco History Of Colombian Football
It Was What It Was : The Football History Podcast
The Overlap
4.9 • 667 Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome back to It Was What It Was, the football history podcast. In this final part three of our three-part special on Colombian football and the tragedy of Andrés Escobar.
Co-hosts Jonathan Wilson and Rob Draper tell the story of the 1994 World Cup and its devastating aftermath. This episode explores the immense and impossible pressure placed on the Colombian squad, from death threats delivered to hotel room TVs, to the chaos of a nation in civil war pinning all its hopes on eleven men. The discussion covers the Romania defeat, the fateful own goal against the USA, and the senseless murder of Andrés Escobar outside a nightclub. Rob and Jonathan also examine the legacy of Escobar 'the gentleman of football' and his remarkable fiancée Pamela Cascada, before reflecting on Colombia's long road to recovery and redemption.
You can listen to this episode ad-free over on our Patreon - Follow the link here - or go to Patreon.com and search for It Was What It Was. You will also get access to our World Cup countdown, magazine retrospectives and bonus episodes as well as a monthly Q&A with Rob and Jonathan.
01:00 Andrés Escobar's Posthumous Column in El Tiempo
01:55 Setting the Scene: The Narco State & Pablo Escobar's Death
06:55 Pablo Escobar's Deep Love of Football
10:55 Francisco Maturana on the Narcos: "Like an Octopus"
16:30 Andrés Escobar: El Caballero del Fútbol
20:25 A Move to AC Milan & The Burden of Representing Colombia
23:30 Higuita's Exclusion & The President's Calculations
26:00 The Romania Defeat: Hagi's Moment of Magic
27:45 Death Threats, Kidnappings & Maturana in Tears
33:00 The USA Game: Playing Under the Shadow of Snipers
35:30 The Own Goal & Colombia's Elimination
37:15 The Murder of Andrés Escobar
41:00 Who Killed Escobar? The Galón Brothers & the Cover-Up
44:45 The State Funeral & Pamela Cascada's Dignity
48:15 The Aftermath: Colombia's Slow Road to Redemption
51:45 2014 & The Restoration of Colombian Football Pride
54:15 Closing Thoughts
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We can't now be treated like mere nobodies because above all we fought to improve the image of Colombian football. |
| 0:14.0 | I was a part of that. I can assure you there was no special reason within the squad that caused this. |
| 0:26.0 | We simply had setbacks and we were incapable of reacting to them in difficult moments. |
| 0:28.4 | We have to take responsibility for that. |
| 0:32.3 | And we return to Colombia with bitterness in our heart because we know we had the ability to make the knockout stages. |
| 0:36.6 | But please, let's keep our respect for one |
| 0:39.2 | another, a huge hug to everyone. I want to say this was a unique, phenomenal experience, |
| 0:46.6 | something rare that I've never felt before. As to Pronto, life doesn't end here. |
| 0:59.2 | Welcome to It Was What It Was, I'm Jonathan Wilson and with Rob Draper. |
| 1:11.6 | And those were the words of Andrew Escobar in a column written in El Tiempo and published posthumacy after he was shot dead on the 2nd of July 1994. |
| 1:17.4 | So this is the third part of our series on the death of Androrescarabar. |
| 1:23.3 | So we've looked at Colombian football taken from the El Dorado League through to the Cinco Serra, the 5-0 win over Argentina in El Monumenthal. |
| 1:29.3 | Then the last episode we looked at the Cincoasero and today we're looking at the World Cup, at the murder of Escobar and at what |
| 1:34.5 | followed. Don't forget as well, we will have for Patreon members our interview with Professor |
| 1:39.9 | Matthew Brown looking at the intersection between football and Colombian politics and society |
| 1:45.9 | in a lot more detail. So do, if you haven't already signed up, do please sign up for that. |
| 1:51.1 | And whether you're signing up or not, please do rate, review and recommend us. It really does |
| 1:56.2 | help with the algorithm. And we all have to live by the algorithm now. So, Rob, I think this |
| 2:04.7 | story is very well known. The documentary of two Escobar's, I think, brought it to a lot of |
| 2:10.6 | people's consciousness. A lot of disagreement, I think, about the causes or the reasons for Escoval's murder. |
| 2:20.2 | But where do you want to begin? |
| 2:22.4 | We left it with Colombia heading to the World Cup on this wave of euphoria, |
... |
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