Colombia (National Football)

James Rodriguez scored one goal and assisted another to help Colombia beat Cameroon 4-0 in an international friendly at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez in Getafe, Spain, on Tuesday.

Palmeiras centre-back Yerry Mina added a brace, and substitute Jose Heriberto Izquierdo scored a fourth as Colombia ran riot. Meanwhile, Cameroon suffered after going down to 10 men when Robert Ndip Tambe was shown a straight red card early in the second half.

Colombia included Real Madrid playmaker James, Juventus winger Juan Cuadrado and Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina in the starting XI, while FC Lorient forward Benjamin Moukandjo skippered Cameroon, per Sky Sports.

Both teams also had ample attacking talent on the bench, with Besiktas striker Vincent Aboubakar among the substitutes for Cameroon, while 31-year-old AS Monaco veteran Radamel Falcao was waiting in reserve for Colombia.

James put Colombia ahead on 16 minutes after arrowing a low, left-footed shot into the bottom corner. It was a deserved lead for a side in complete control from the off.

Colombia passed the ball effortlessly and efficiently between the lines, with players such as James and Cuadrado fluidly rotating positions and attempting through passes from various angles.

Only the linesman's flag saved Cameroon from falling further behind, with both Cuadrado and Palmeiras striker Miguel Borja flagged when free in behind. Cameroon couldn't hold out for long, though, and it was 2-0 after 30 minutes when Mina headed in a James corner.

Things looked bleaker still for Cameroon when Colombia manager Jose Pekerman introduced Falcao for the second half. Worse followed when Tambe was dismissed two minutes after the break.

Falcao hadn't been on the pitch for long before Mina got his second on 52 minutes to put the game out of sight. The defender reacted quickest to another corner, shooting on the turn in the box.

James went close again ahead of the final 20 minutes, but Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana made the save for Cameroon. Falcao was then played in by former Monaco team-mate James, but the striker shot over.

The same combination soon helped Colombia get in behind again only for Falcao to be flagged offside. Even so, Colombia's fourth finally arrived when Izquierdo slotted home from inside the box with five minutes to play.

It was all Colombia needed to cap a comprehensive performance, one showcasing the incredible talent and strength in depth of Pekerman's squad.

Colombia finished second in Group A behind the United States, but Los Cafeteros are strong favorites to advance past Group B winner Peru in Friday’s Copa America quarterfinal matchup at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The Colombians are -180 betting favorites (wager $180 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark, with the Peruvians sitting as underdogs after finishing unbeaten at 2-0-1 in group play.

Match Odds: Colombia -180, Peru +475, Draw +255

This is one of those games in which seeding does not truly reflect the skill level of these teams, with oddsmakers doing a much more accurate job of measuring them against each other.

Most would argue that Colombia is better than the United States, as its 2-0 victory in the Copa America opener between them back on June 3 would attest.

In addition, Peru was the surprise winner of Group B due to a 1-0 win over Brazil, when a controversial handball led to a goal that should not have stood.

Regardless, the Peruvians are here in the quarters and the Brazilians are not, which is a shocker in itself. Peru scored the least amount of goals of any group winner and also had the lowest goal differential, yet La Blanquirroja still finished in a tie with Mexico and Venezuela for the second-most points with seven.

A tie with Brazil would have left them out of the knockout stage altogether.

Meanwhile, Colombia followed up its shutout of the United States with a 2-1 victory against Uruguay and a 3-2 loss to Costa Rica, which cost the team first place in the group. It may have worked out for the best, though, as a draw with Costa Rica or a win would have paired the Colombians up with a more difficult quarterfinal opponent in Ecuador.

However, the defeat at the hands of the Costa Ricans is still a concern for a squad considered among the favorites to win the tournament.

These teams last met in the 2015 Copa America tourney and finished with a 0-0 draw. They both went 1-1-1 in Group C and advanced to the knockout stage along with group winners Brazil. But only Peru made it as far as the semi-finals before losing 2-1 to host Chile, who went on to win the title.

That positive experience would figure to help the Peruvians at least a little bit in this spot, although the Colombians will be motivated to get to the semis this time around. This should be a back-and-forth affair, with each side seeing a fair share of scoring opportunities.

In the end, Colombia has more talent and should be able to squeak by Peru.

Colombia vs. Peru Prediction: 2-1 Colombia

All betting lines data courtesy of Odds Shark. Check out the latest Copa America news.

Jose Pekerman rolled the dice and lost. But despite some critical voices, the coach's gamble was not a foolish one.

He decided to rotate 10 players out of the team that beat Paraguay in the second Copa America clash and play reserves and squad players against Costa Rica on Saturday night in Houston.

Colombia lost 3-2 in a pulsating clash, and it meant they surrendered the top spot in Group A to the United States, who beat Paraguay earlier in the evening.

A draw or win would have been enough for Los Cafeteros to win the group.

Pekerman had good reasons behind his decision. The coach wanted, primarily, to rest his first team.

The Copa America Centenario is a brutal tournament. The distances travelled and the heat in some of the locations has made it tough for some teams to handle.

Uruguay made a big point of this, with coach Oscar Tabarez lashing out, per Goal.

It’s going to be played all over the United States, I don’t like it. The teams that reach the final will have been over the whole of the country - and it’s an impressively big country. Then there’s the heat there, which, on top of the distances to be travelled, increases the demands [of the tournament]. That’s why I don’t think it will be an ordinary Copa America.

Colombia's game against Costa Rica took place in hot conditions, with the temperature after the game still a high 29 degrees Celsius (84 degrees Fahrenheit).

Pekerman's men would have been playing again on Thursday night in the quarter-final had they topped the group. He clearly wanted to keep his men fresh for that potential game.

Furthermore, his selection decisions also protected first-teamers from suffering injuries against Costa Rica.

By picking players who hadn't had as much game time in the tournament, he was also giving them match fitness, which will be useful if they are needed further down the line.

In some cases, he was also helping his players build confidence, such as 19-year-old striker Marlos Moreno, who scored a fine strike as his team tried to fight back.

Despite a string of late opportunities, Colombia lost, but finishing second could still work out in their favour, based on Sunday's results.

They now have an extra day's rest, playing on Friday in New Jersey.

Key striker Carlos Bacca did not feature at all, while other star men like James Rodriguez and Juan Cuadrado won't be too tired after their run out in the second half of the Costa Rica game.

And what's more, the main loss from finishing second is that they have to play the top team in Group B in the quarter-final, which many anticipate will be Brazil.

However, Dunga's Brazil are far from a reliable side, and it is possible that they could somehow come a cropper against Peru on Sunday night in Foxborough, Massachusetts, ending up finishing second or even failing to reach the quarter-finals at all.

If that is the case, playing the first or second team won't make too much difference, because both Peru and Ecuador are equally strong.

Colombia will also have greater support playing in New Jersey than in Seattle because there are more expats in that part of the country.

Even if they do draw Brazil in the next round, they showed at the last Copa America they aren’t afraid of playing bigger sides.

They beat the Selecao in the group stages and then took Argentina all the way to a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals, which they eventually lost.

If they want to win the Copa America Centenario, they will have to beat better teams than Brazil to do so. Therefore, although it isn’t ideal to face them in the next round, it’s not a disaster by any means.

That much was reflected by Nicolas Otamendi stating Colombia were one of the favourites to win the tournament.

"The Copa has only just started, but Colombia are doing things well. They've already had two wins," he told Goal before Los Cafeteros faced Costa Rica.

Colombia’s start to this tournament showed they have the potential to go all the way and lift the trophy on June 26, even if they aren't considered favourites.

They made mincemeat of the USA in the first game at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Scoring after eight minutes through Cristian Zapata, they sat back and allowed the USA to build attacks which broke on the rocks of Daniel Torres and Sebastian Perez in defensive midfield.

Then they completed a professional display by hitting the United States on the counter-attack, winning a penalty, which James converted coolly.

The Real Madrid star is one of the big reasons Colombia could lift this trophy.

He was the best player at the 2014 World Cup for some and scored in both of the two opening games of this tournament.

Coming off a bad season with his club on a personal level, it has felt like James has a point to prove.

According to Pekerman, he will need surgery after the tournament on a shoulder injury, something he exacerbated during the first game when he fell awkwardly against the United States.

"We realise that this injury could reoccur. He'll need surgery. Real Madrid has been informed," Pekerman said, per ESPN FC.

But that did not rule him out of the Paraguay match, a game in which James shone, even though Colombia experienced some tough moments of pressure.

Against Paraguay, he roamed and probed, pressuring the defence and working harder than he has in months with his club, at least to the naked eye.

Colombia have been helped, too, by the clarity with which Pekerman uses his strikers.

Gone are Radamel Falcao, Jackson Martinez and Teofilo Gutierrez, all of whom have commanded game time in the past, with no clear indication of who is the preferred option.

There was too much chopping and changing going on. Now we know that it's Bacca, with younger players like Moreno in support. There is no confusion—except perhaps between the Morenos. (Dayro Moreno is another striker in the squad, but like Marlos, he knows he is backing up Bacca.)

Colombian football expert Carl Worswick told Bleacher Report at the start of the tournament that expectation levels were not excessively high in the country.

He said: "As long as people can see a continuation of the progress made during the last round of qualifiers, they’ll be satisfied.

"I suspect Colombia won’t have enough strength in depth or experience to trouble the latter stages of the tournament, but I doubt we’ll see a repeat of last year’s miserable effort either, when they exited the Copa America in Chile having scored just one goal."

That lower burden of pressure will also work in their favour, with the fans in the U.S. delighted when proceedings are going their way but not too harsh on the team when things go wrong.

For that reason, although supporters will be disappointed by the loss to Costa Rica that stopped them getting the top spot, they will already be thinking about the quarter-finals.

On Sunday night, they'll find out who they will face in New Jersey, and Brazil or otherwise, Colombia have the resources to get through that game and reach the semi-final.

Quotes taken firsthand unless otherwise stated.

Colombia midfielder James Rodriguez picked up a nasty-looking shoulder injury on June 3 against the USA. However, he has been cleared to return.

Continue for updates.

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Rodriguez Active vs. Paraguay

Tuesday, June 7

Juan G. Arango of ESPN reported Rodriguez is in the starting 11 against Paraguay. 

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Rodriguez's Return Provides Lift to Colombia

Although Rodriguez didn't exactly set the world alight for Real Madrid over the course of 2015/16, the way he performed in Colombia's Copa America opener showed he still has plenty to offer.

The midfielder was a constant menace to the USA defence throughout the match, and when he converted a 42nd-minute penalty to put Colombia into a 2-0 lead, he stamped his authority on the game.

It was on the international stage where Rodriguez first made a real name for himself, stealing the show at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Since then, he's gone on to bigger and better things with Madrid and continued to show fabulous form with his country. In fact, his goal against the USA took him into Colombia's top five all-time goalscorers, per OptaJavier:

15 - James Rodriguez scored today his 15th goal for #Colombia, and is now tied as 5th historical top-scorer. Leader pic.twitter.com/A1fr0UMVaL

— OptaJavier (@OptaJavier) June 4, 2016

Colombia is certainly happy to see him back on the field.

Gabriel Gomez is angry.

"I don't talk about mafia people. I know none of those people you are talking about. ... I don't talk about drug trafficking."

Gomez is the former Colombian midfielder better known as "Barrabas." At the 1994 World Cup, before Colombia's group-stage defeat to the United States, their players returned from a pre-match briefing to death threats, saying they'd all be killed if Gomez were to appear in the match.

Then-coach Francisco Maturana bowed to the threat, saying he "couldn't put another's life in danger," according to the Telegraph. Striker Tino Asprilla adds: "We didn't know where those threats were even coming from. Was it the drug cartels, or was it because of the war with the guerrillas? We were asking who was responsible and still are as we still have no idea how it came about."

In the seasons leading up to that tournament, Gomez played for Atletico Nacional and Millonarios, two of the teams at the height of the domestic game during the so-called narco-football era. The former was bankrolled by Pablo Escobar, the latter by Gonzalo "El Mexicano" Gacha.

He really doesn't want to talk about it.

"No, I never met them, I never slept with them, I never had anything with them. ... You are asking about Pablo Escobar, about drug lords, and I don't know anything. ... I don't want to talk about drug trafficking. I want to talk about football."

His attitude is understandable. Gomez is far from alone in building a wall between the present and what went before.

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Juan Jose Bellini, once head of Colombia's football association and formerly a director of America de Cali, answers the phone chirpily, but his tone changes when he realises why I've called.

A good friend of the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers who ran America de Cali and the Cali cartel, he spent six years in jail after a conviction for laundering money. He's not ready to talk about it.

"No, no, I'm too old to remember that era. I don't talk about that, I don't remember." The line goes dead.

The digging continues. Luis "Chonto" Herrera was a defender on that 1994 Colombian team. I asked him about Gomez's reluctance to talk.

"I guess it's because that was a hard moment. The environment was terrible for the team. They threatened the players, the backroom team, the coach. We all went there so proud to represent Colombia, to do our best for the country and to do our families proud as well, and it was a really difficult moment for everyone.

"With the unity of the team, we could only try to get through that situation together and move on. We all have our own ways of dealing with that time in our lives, of dealing with what happened to the team and country and ourselves and our families."

He sighs. "That's his. This is mine."

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Three different years. Three different moments.

It's July 4, 2014, and the sun bounces off the mirrors that make up the facade of the new Estadio Castelao in the northern Brazilian city of Fortaleza.

Inside, it's hard to work out if the raucous noise or fervent hue rip at your attention more as a late James Rodriguez penalty is mere consolation as Colombia exit at the World Cup quarter-finals. But if there's victory in defeat, this is it—for not only is it a first appearance in the last eight, it's about a country climbing from its knees in terms of internal pride and external reputation.

In a tournament defined by colour and carnival, more than any other nation Colombia has stood out like a bottle rocket flashing across the evening sky.

It's December 9, 2015, and night has fallen over the Estadio El Campin in Colombia's capital city of Bogota. A bowl of a ground that comes into view as you make your way along the boulevard that is Calle 57, it's been renovated numerous times since it opened in 1938, and it pulls that great South American trick of being both concrete grey yet drenched in technicolor character all at once.

There's just been a dour game between local side Independiente Santa Fe and Argentinian club Huracan, but the place is soon rocking as a penalty shootout results in a Colombian club's winning the Copa Sudamericana (the CONMEBOL version of the Europa League) for the first time.

It's May 19, 2016, and the floodlights cut through the dark for a distance around the creaking behemoth that is El Estadio Atanasio Girardot.

Now part of an impressive and modern sports complex within Medellin that includes swimming, baseball, track and field and tennis facilities, the main stadium is bouncing as Atletico Nacional take their place in the last four of the Copa Libertadores (the Conmebol version of the Champions League).

One-nil down to Rosario Central from the first leg, they concede an early penalty but fight back to grab a winner five minutes into stoppage time amid punches, red cards, karate kicks, medics chasing officials and an opposition manager engaged in racism with a home player.

But if the finale was out of control, then their performance was fast, physically superior and technically controlled, befitting of a team that emerged from the groups with the best record and entered the knockout phase as the No. 1 seed.

True, a small flock of swallows never made a summer, but there have been enough little shoots in recent times to suggest Colombian football is emerging from its winter.

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Too often we say that sport can transcend life. It can't. Sometimes it provides an escape, and other times it influences it in the tiniest way. However, it usually tends to mirror it—and as Colombia knows from its own past, not always positively.

But if the country's football in the 1980s and 1990s served as a sad microcosm of an era where it became known for drugs, violence and little else, now it's a welcome symbol of a nation that is slowly finding both its voice and its place.

Juan Pablo Angel witnessed that transformation better than most. Born in Medellin and raised there when it was the murder capital of the world, he won a national title in 1994 before moving to Argentina, Aston Villa and finally to the United States.

"Going home once a year at the end of seasons made it easier to see the changes that were happening in the city and country," he says. "Particularly when Alvaro Uribe was the president [between 2002 and 2010].

"That was probably when the changes sped up most dramatically, and that involved everything from security to construction to almost every other aspect of the country. It was easy to see it. I'd pop in and it was great to be hit with the changes that were taking place. It was massive, massive change. Really.

"It left you going back to playing elsewhere with a pride that wasn't always there. In Europe and the United States, I'm sure there were always stereotypes about Colombia and the kind of country we came from. I never listened to people stereotyping us, but you just had to look at the news—the stories were all about drugs and the political and social conflict we'd been living in for so many years."

Angel has experienced his country's moving on from its dark past, and the feeling has been "special."

Not long ago Colombia was considered to be a failed state that produced around 80 per cent of the world's cocaine. But where once police stopped motorcyclists wearing helmets as they were a common accessory for hit men, and where life was so cheap that you could contract a kill for as little as $75, today it's the third-largest economy in Latin America behind only Brazil and Mexico.

That change is evident in the transformation of the nation's three biggest cities, which, unsurprisingly, are home to the five most successful clubs in Colombian football history.

In Bogota, where Millonarios and Santa Fe have shared 22 titles, there has been huge money given over to transport, cultural infrastructure and environmental restoration, while traffic fatalities have been reduced by half and the murder rate has fallen by some 70 per cent.

In Medellin, where Nacional have been kingpins on 15 occasions, that murder rate has dropped by 80 per cent partially due to integration plans for the shantytowns that exist on the hillsides, which include a cable-car system to a metro below. Running alongside these physical improvements have been education and social programs.

Meanwhile, in Cali, where America and Deportivo have amassed 22 crowns, the demolition of the central El Calvario neighbourhood began last July.

Known locally as La Olla (meaning the pot or more precisely a place to buy drugs) or metedero (essentially a place to do drugs and engage in prostitution), it's part of a major regeneration project with the neighbouring districts of San Pascual (a lower-class residential area) and Sucre (an industrial area) set to be leveled over the next couple of years to make way for the future.

That's not to say Colombia couldn't be doing better, particularly in terms of infrastructure and social equality, but if ongoing peace talks with rebel guerrillas work out, then tourism can increase further, and less money can be spent on defence.

"Of course the narco-society is still there; it's just far more hidden," says Colombian journalist Carlos Alleman.

"Before, you knew who and where they were, but now they know better how to do it. And you can't pretend there isn't a big division in our society either. That's in our culture. It's been that way since the 1800s; it's always been the same.

"The poor people will always be poor, because the society and system works like that. It's safer to go around the cities now, and the government are spending a lot on security, and there are a lot of touristic walks, but the hidden poverty is huge. However, it is getting better, and the improvements mean international brands coming to Colombia, which is good for the society and for the economy. And it's good for football."

Gonzalo Medina-Perez, a professor at the University of Antioquia who has extensively studied the relationship between football and drug trafficking, agrees. "Transparency started to change that football," he says.

"They've been getting more shareholders, getting better coaching with the money that's coming into the country. It's all brought greater economic stability to teams. I guess the best explanation for the progress has been clearer financial organisation. Laws were brought in by government about this, forcing better control, and the results have been good.

"It's seen clubs better organised in a business sense, getting sponsors on board, attracting fans and selling tickets. And Nacional are the best example of how that worked, as they are backed by the Ardila Lulle Group, which has huge resources thanks to stakes in everything from gas to media to the beverage industry."

As a contrast, I asked Angel about when he started playing for Nacional in 1993 and how life was around both team and city a quarter of a century ago.

"There are still problems today but not a drop of what they were before," he says. "We still have drug problems, but not like the '80s because the country has grown up and changed in a positive way from those old days. Football has followed too. But back then, it's like thinking of a different world, it was the peak of the cartels being in with football, and the sport wasn't estranged from the situation of the country.

"It was violence, it was drugs, it was a lot of political and economic problems. But what we are exposed to, it becomes part of our scenery. We learn how to live with it, and it was part of the normal, everyday routine and part of the things we had to do. That's not to say we didn't fear for family and friends, but we became used to the violence and these circumstances and the fact we were going to be exposed to a lot of danger regularly.

"But what choice had we other than to deal with that chaos?"

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Blurred lines.

It's hard to know exactly when narco-football ended.

Late into the 1990s, the joke around Cali used to go that the streets were safest when America were playing as all the gangsters would be inside the stadium. Like all the best humour, it had a strong seam of truth.

As recently as 1997 the club's former winger, Antony De Avila, scored a goal to help Colombia qualify for the World Cup and celebrated by running to the TV cameras and dedicating his strike to the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers, the jailed dons of the city's infamous cartel and the men who owned the side behind the scenes.

Shortly after, the club held a minute's silence before a game to honour the brothers' recently deceased mother.

Only in 2013 was the team removed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury from what was nicknamed the "Clinton List." U.S. companies had been banned from doing business with the side as a punishment for their part in drug trafficking, which left them financially struggling.

Today, they are still trying to claw back that lost time and ground, as they languish in the second division.

But it's been far from just America or Cali. During that 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign, a game against Venezuela was being broadcast at the same time police in Bogota were waiting to free a kidnapped businessman. They waited for a goal to be scored so they could enter during the chaos of the celebrations.

Meanwhile, across the capital, in 2012, Millonarios considered giving back the two titles they'd won in an era when drug lord Rodriguez Gacha was behind their push, as per W Radio (via Colombia Reports).

Where narco-football began is harder still to decipher. Like all things in Colombia, so many strands are intertwined that it can be impossible to untangle.

The country's professional league began in the upheaval of Colombia in 1948, and thrived in the '80s as a more modern anarchy brought about by narco-football.

"The first government of the 1980s was that of liberal Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala," says Professor Medina-Perez, who says "in its economic policy, [the government] imposed a mechanism by which they allowed a kind of legalisation of some illegal activities like drug smuggling.

"That was the gateway for drug traffickers who began to show their economic power and to apply it in different areas. That included industry, trade, finance and, of course, football. But when you talk about narco-football in Colombia, everyone mentions Pablo Escobar, but he's not the only one or even the most important one."

One version says the maiden instance of narco-football came about when a group of marijuana smugglers in Santa Marta invested in Union Magdalena, the first club of Carlos Valderrama. It was headed by Eduardo Enrique Davila, who as early as 1973 was identified by authorities as the man behind large shipments of marijuana to Italy, Puerto Rico and the United States. But if these investments were small, what followed across the '80s more than made up for it.

Ruling Independiente Medellin were gangsters Hector Mesa and Pablo Correa Ramos. Santa Fe had its debts paid off by Fernando Carrillo when he became chairman, but by May 1981, he and his Inverca Group were charged for involvement in cocaine shipments to Florida. Thereafter, the club was taken over by drug traffickers Silvio and Phanor Arizabaleta-Arzayus, whose brother died in 1983 following an explosion at a cocaine-processing laboratory.

And then there were the Big Three.

The Rodriguez Orejuela brothers in Cali quickly assembled one of the best teams the continent had ever known at America, losing the Libertadores final in 1985, 1986 and 1987.

Up to that point, it had been a limited club, but with its newfound wealth, it snapped up players of the calibre of Paraguay's Roberto Cabanas, Peruvian Julio Uribe and Ricardo Gareca of Argentina.

The story even goes that Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela once met with a young Diego Maradona in 1979 but had more to offer up than a free meal. He asked the Argentine to play the remaining six months of the season for his club in return for $3 million, and the deal only fell through as a contract had already been agreed with Barcelona, as per the book El Hijo del Ajedrecista, via El Mundo.

In Bogota, Gacha was the main suspect in the murder of the owner of Millonarios. Two years after taking over the side himself, they were champions, going back-to-back in 1987 and 1988.

But a year later, there were no champions in Colombia, as the league was abandoned following the murder of Alvaro Ortega, who had refereed a match in Medellin between Deportivo and America. According to the Chicago Tribune, afterwards an anonymous caller told a journalist "we and our patrons lost a lot of money because the result of the Deportivo Medellin-America game was not just," and thus the assassination had been ordered.

"Everyone remembers Nacional winning the Libertadores that year, but few talk about that," says Carlos Alleman. "That is the great shame of our nation."

So much so that before the 1989 World Club Cup, AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi declared that his team "would fight Nacional to defeat the dirty part of the world," as per Doentes por Futebol (link in Portuguese).

"Nacional were the team of Escobar, of course," says "Chonto" Herrera. "I played there for 10 years, and it's known that he invested behind the scenes. But Pablo, I never met him, no. But everyone knew he was a person who was passionate about football.

"It wasn't just those teams, he loved the game beyond that. He had games on his ranch, he built pitches in the poorer areas that gave kids a place to play, and many good players learned the game that way, on those pitches he funded."

With Escobar, there were always two sides. Murderer of many? A terrorist who blew up an Avianca jet? Hero to the poor, having built 1,000 homes for families forced to live on a garbage dump, among other acts? 

"What was happening in narco-trafficking was happening in other countries too," says Ivan Pereira, a Brazilian architect who has spent a lifetime researching and delving into the history of Colombian football and its societal links. "But in Colombia, it went to a different level. The difference with other countries, most wanted money; in Colombia, they wanted to be celebrities, rock stars.

"They started appearing on TV, one of the Cali cartel built a five-star hotel on the Caribbean island of San Andres. They craved attention, and football was a way to give them that. They used the football to be accepted, like Russia with the oligarchs. It buys acceptance and influence. And by acceptance, I mean high society. Of course, football was great to launder money as well."

In December 1989, having captured the son of Gacha, police released him and tailed him as he ran to his father. El Tiempo reported those nearby the incident believed, having heard grenade explosions, he'd held one to his head in an act of suicide, but police later announced that the Millonarios owner had actually been shot from one of their helicopters.

Six months later, four of the club's players were among a young and home-based squad that reached the World Cup's second round.

In December 1993, Colombian forces tracked Pablo Escobar to a middle-class district of Medellin. After a gun battle resulted in his scampering upon the roofs of nearby houses to get into a back street, he was shot in the body and ultimately killed when shot in the head.

He was buried with a Nacional flag over his coffin, and six months later, six of his club's players were among a squad that went to the World Cup as one of the favourites and had Pele tipping them to go all the way. One Nacional player was missing, though—goalkeeper Rene Higuita was dropped for breaking the country's anti-kidnapping laws when he was caught up in an incident involving Escobar and money launderer Carlos Molina that involved the capture of the latter's daughter and the delivery of ransom money.

The tone was set for what would follow.

"There was loads of gambling on us winning the World Cup, and we didn't get out of the group," remembers Herrera. "And after losing, everyone was so angry at us, the situation was messy, horrific. Andres [Escobar, the Nacional defender who scored the own goal against the U.S. that saw the team eliminated] decided to go for dinner with his friends in the midst of that. He met people who started saying things to him outside a club...."

After Escobar's friends left the scene, he confronted those people, but their bodyguard shot him six times while saying, "Gol, gol, gol, gol, gol, gol," as reported by Sports Illustrated.

A year on from that incident, Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela was discovered by police hiding in a secret compartment in his home, while Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela was caught attempting to enter a hidden compartment in his apartment bathroom. Both are now serving 30 years in the United States.

"Even before they were caught, narco-football was at an end for me. That came with the death of Andres Escobar," concludes Professor Medina-Perez. "I interviewed many people and investigated a lot, and it's really hard to believe there was much narco-money in football after that.

"Andres was in a bar drinking. The guys that killed him didn't send someone to kill him; it just escalated. They were linked with drug money, they were in the mafia, but it was isolated, separated from what happened in world of drugs. For me, he sadly met with his destiny that night."

So too did Colombian football. After the madness of the 1980s, it had all caught up with them.

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In the midst of the violence, the strangest thing happened one day in Colombia. Back in 1993, on the campus of the National University in Bogota, a group of students were protesting to a professor when suddenly he pulled down his trousers and started to moon them.

At the time, Antanas Mockus was a philosopher and mathematician who had played a role in the writing of a new national constitution in 1991 that gave cities more independence. "Innovative behavior can be useful when you run out of words," he said of the incident, although he was still forced to resign, as per the New York Times.

Yet by 1995, he'd become mayor of the capital city, winning what some claim to be a protest vote in a campaign where he refused to debate or go on television to promote himself.

"He took office, and for him, it didn't make any sense to build buildings until people realised how to live in society," says Pereira. "So he started loads of actions to teach them to live normally."

These included taking a shower in an ad to educate about water conservation, roaming around in spandex and a cape calling himself "Supercitizen," having feuding neighbours wave red cards rather than guns at one another and having the traffic police at lights replaced with mime artists.

Somehow, it made an impact on a Colombia that badly needed to have an impact made. So much so that amid a renewal of arts and culture, he got 63,000 residents to volunteer for a 10 per cent tax increase.

Soon after, cycling and a pedestrian culture was promoted, along with the building of wider streets and national parks.

It worked in Bogota to the point where Medellin did likewise under the guidance of Sergio Fajardo, who put into practice their social urbanism by opening parks and libraries in the middle of slums, building great museums and redesigning the entire city. By 2013, it won the top award of the NGO Urban Land Institute as the most innovative city in the world.

"That brought a better image of Colombia to the world," says Medina-Perez, "which in turn brought a long lost nationalism and pride."

When football tried to follow, it didn't initially work. Hosting the 2001 Copa America, Colombia were initially stripped of the honour due to security concerns, and when they were reinstated, Canada withdrew, followed by Argentina, who said they'd received death threats.

"A year later, Colombia didn't even qualify for the World Cup," notes Pereira. "They knew they had to change how they went about the game. One of the first things they did was change the calendar to be like football in Europe, starting in August and going from there.

"They got more investment. They reduced the number of clubs in the first division to condense talent and raise the standard. Loads of clubs started investing youth academies. So they weren't in World Cups in the 2000s, no, but were building themselves up for this future you are starting to see now."

"That's why football is strong, really competitive, we've players all around the world, and the standard is good again," says "Chonto" Herrera.

"Colombia has always had talent, and that will be the case forever," continues Angel. “We have this particular ability to create talented footballers, and this generation is learning from the mistakes that previous generations made. The clubs in terms of the ownership, a chunk of the clubs now are owned by private owners and companies, and that brings a lot more stability.

"So it's more about learning and understanding this is an entertainment industry, and it has to be treated as such."

Angel cites the most notable example as Nacional, who have grown their attendances and dramatically improved security at their stadium. "What's happening with this club is extraordinary," he says.

"But so has how we are producing players. The street football, it's still happening in the poor neighbourhoods. But also clubs are providing pitches for the kids, and they're playing in a controlled environment. Clubs are providing them with that and are taking care of them, trying to transform the young players and their lives and making them into good human beings for society.

"If by doing so they've the ability to produce a certain amount of players that can serve their team, then great. But the first purpose is transforming these kids' lives and making the country better."

None of this is to say either Colombian football or society are close to perfect. According to InSight Crime, "from 2009 to July 2013, an estimated 7,000 people were killed in the Medellin mafia wars," while peace in this area has only happened due to a truce between rival gangs. Coca production continues to grow; indeed, as recently as May, police found 8.8 tonnes of cocaine in the biggest seizure in their history.

All the while, Pablo Escobar has entered pop culture. As per Huffington Post, his son now makes money selling Escobar-branded clothing— including "T-shirts that have a picture of Escobar's arrest documents as well as his father's face." Granted, he's also met with the son of murdered presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan in a pivotal moment when it comes to moving on from what went before.

Football has its problems too, with only three home-based players making the Colombian squad for the 2014 World Cup. However, while it shows how the domestic league has faltered in its ability to keep the nation's best, it's also a sign of the quality of their player production that many are bought up by the top clubs in Europe.

Once more, side by side, football is mirroring society—only now both are trying to build the right way.

---

Gabriel Gomez picks up his phone, and this time he isn't angry. This time he laughs down the line.

"You again," he says.

"I just had a couple more questions," I tell him.

"The violence was too much back then," he explains. "But now everything is much better, the industry is much better, the country is more healthy, things are much more calm. There are a lot of tourists here now. They are getting to see the beauty of Colombia, which has amazing countryside, while the cities are gorgeous.

"Everything is working better; the economy is better. The guerrillas and narco-trafficking left everyone battered, and it took time to get over that, but now generally, it's more calm and we are moving on."

"So how do you feel today?" I ask him.

"After everything we've been through and to get to this point...pride. How could we not?"

Parts of this article originally appeared in the Irish Examiner

James Rodriguez lifted the UEFA Champions League trophy on the San Siro pitch and managed a grin. Less than 24 hours later, he strode out on to the field at the Santiago Bernabeu with a Real Madrid scarf draped round his neck, before giving a short, celebratory speech to the fans.

Winning the Champions League—his first and Madrid's 11th—before heading to the Copa America Centenario with Colombia sounds like the perfect end to the season and the start of the summer for James.

The reality, though, is very different. On the surface, he looked happy and calm, but a tide of emotions must have been turning underneath. He played no part in the Champions League final win over Atletico Madrid, sitting on the bench for the full 120 minutes plus penalties.

After the game, he spoke about his future, insisting he would like to stay with Los Blancos, despite a train wreck of a season.

Per Sport, he said:

I am happy here. All the people close to me are happy too. It's the ideal club and I want to be here. Yes, I would have liked to play but I did contribute to the team's success.

...

When you have bad times you also learn from them. Each day I learn more. I don't know [what I've been lacking] but I have to leave this behind and think about what is ahead of me.

And what is ahead of him is a chance to blow away the memories of this season by dazzling at the Copa America. In his rearview mirror are allegations of excess, being unfit and police cars.

Colombia have a tough group, drawn against Paraguay, Costa Rica and the hosts, the United States. None of the four teams is an outright favourite for the tournament, but all have assets that could see them go far.

James will instantly take the spotlight, as the biggest superstar on the pitch in the first game, which pits Colombia against the U.S. at the Levi's Stadium in San Jose, California, on June 3.

He is expected to start for Jose Pekerman's side, something the 24-year-old only managed 12 times under Zinedine Zidane in his five months in charge. James started just nine games under the former France international’s predecessor, Rafa Benitez, although injury played a part in that.

At least being tired can’t be an excuse for the star, unlike many of the other talents who will appear this summer in the States.

He signed for Madrid after marvellous performances at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, even though he left Fortaleza’s Estadio Castelao in tears, when his team were knocked out by the hosts.

James scored six goals, winning the tournament’s Golden Boot and impressing sufficiently for Florentino Perez to splash £71 million on a move for the then-AS Monaco midfielder.

This was a magic moment for James, who has been a Real Madrid fan since his youth. In the 2013-14 Champions League semi-final, Los Blancos were pitted against Bayern Munich in Germany, and he made his own way there to support his team.

His first season ended without much glory as Barcelona claimed the treble, but on a personal level, things went well, with the Colombian one of Carlo Ancelotti’s most productive players.

Where things started to go wrong, for both James and Colombia, was at the Copa America in Chile.

With Radamel Falcao misfiring up front and James offering little spark, Venezuela beat them 1-0 in the group, before they gained revenge over Brazil by beating them by the same scoreline. A 0-0 draw against Peru saw them progress from the group, albeit in miserable fashion.

It was a far cry from their swagger at the World Cup the year before. James clashed with Peru's Luis Advincula and was lucky not to see red for flinging an elbow in his face.

He offered no spark against Argentina in the quarter-final either, scoring his kick in the penalty shootout defeat after a 0-0 draw. James left the tournament both having and feeling disappointed. Carlos Tevez sent Argentina through to the semi-final after Colombia's Luis Muriel fluffed his lines.

James linked up with the Madrid squad at the end of July, after an extended break following the Copa America.

And from there began a quite incredible string of accusations aimed at the Colombian by the Spanish media for his behaviour and fitness condition. Barcelona-based Sport, among other newspapers, was particularly keen to note anything he was involved in or accused of.

Benitez put James on the bench in the first game of the season, a goalless draw away at Sporting Gijon, after claims he was lacking fitness, with James responding by publishing a photo of himself with the caption "better than ever" to put pressure on the coach.

Per Sport, Benitez responded: "James joined later than the rest, so he has had less preparation than his team-mates. So it was a technical decision."

Then James picked up a curious injury during an international friendly, when his side played Peru on September 8. Madrid called it "a muscle problem in his left thigh" but declined to go into greater detail.

James played against Real Betis on August 29 but did not appear again in a Madrid shirt until a 3-2 defeat by Sevilla on November 11.

Eyebrows were raised in Madrid when he was named in a Colombia squad for November despite barely playing, although he ended up scoring in his country's 1-1 draw with Chile, and firing a barb at Benitez while he was at it.

"This is for those who say I am not fit," he said, per Sport.

Next—and bizarrely—followed a ludicrous string of excuses after police chased him when he was speeding at over 200 kilometres per hour.

Sport explained, crediting El Mundo:

James' excuse to the police was that he was speeding because he was late for training. He then said that he did not see the police car and could not hear the siren because his music was too loud.

He finished by saying that when he finally noticed the police car, the player did not want to stop in case, like is common in his country Colombia to owners of expensive cars, he was the victim of a hijacking.

With James' partner, Daniela Ospina, away on a reality television show in their homeland, the next claims suggested he was partying far too much and spotted in several Madrid nightclubs.

"James Rodriguez has become a major concern for Real Madrid. Despite being a professional football [sic], he’s developed a lust for nights out and it’s not strange to see him at parties in Madrid," remarked Sport, keen to report on the behaviour of Real Madrid's midfield star.

Accusations of being fat angered the star, who said, per Sport: "I'm always intent on being well and taking care of myself. This pisses me off, those that doubt me, they say that I don't take care of myself, or that I'm fat. I've given a lot to football and I keep giving everything every day."

This happened around the same time he appeared to refuse Zidane's instruction to warm up, which he also explained was a misunderstanding.

His mother, Pilar Rubio Gomez, stoked controversy when she decided to tweet about her son's situation, including being left out of key games like the Clasico by Zidane.

He was also criticised by his coach after he was spotted laughing by Zidane while Madrid were losing 2-0 to Wolfsburg in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.

"It's an episode that nobody likes, but we have to put it to one side," Zidane told Sport.

"It's difficult. He knows that, he knows that things like this can be picked up in two or three seconds. He has to learn from these things."

However, Colombian football expert Carl Worswick explained that in the South American country, the media have viewed his actions and his season with a different slant to the Spanish press.

"It is largely forgotten now, but even back then Colombian media were quick to rush to his defence,” he told Bleacher Report.

“James had never been involved in disciplinary issues previously—unlike plenty of other Colombian players—and so a huge fuss wasn’t made about a couple of misdemeanours.

"They were slightly less forgiving about his weight issue earlier in the year when he came back from injury carrying an extra few pounds, but Colombians tend to defend everything James does at Real.

"He’s one of the country’s biggest personalities, the first Colombian to achieve star status for a huge club and so generally his lack of game time overshadowed the rumours about his private life.

"Again, nearly all the focus on James has been on why he’s played so little. When Real were beaten by Wolfsburg, I watched several Colombian football talk shows where everybody was in complete agreement—with James playing the full 90, Real wouldn’t have lost—so why was Zidane being so stubborn?

"That reaction has been repeated several times this year with people assuming Zidane—and previously Rafa—have something personal against James. People pondered whether they had had a falling out instead of questioning James’ form, which undoubtedly hasn’t reached the heights reached previously."

Perhaps the support back home in Colombia acted as an enabler of sorts for James to continue living in the same way, at least for a while. But things began to change in the World Cup qualifiers, as coach Pekerman began to leave out some elements of the old guard, which was failing, and rebuild the team.

Of the team that will start against the United States, roughly just half will have started against Venezuela at the previous edition of the tournament.

“I feel Pekerman spent too long in maintaining faith with the old guard and this showed at the Copa in Chile,” added Worswick.

“Since then he’s been bold in leaving out former stars and bringing in fresh talent. He’s been helped in that process by the emergence of some exciting talent largely coming from the domestic league—Marlos Moreno, Sebastian Perez, Daniel Torres—and most people now feel Colombia have turned the corner.”

So James' job, having impressed in the World Cup qualification wins over Bolivia and Ecuador in March, is to rejoin the team and make amends for not only their bad performance at the last tournament but virtually his entire season with Real Madrid.

Colombia beat Haiti without him on Sunday night in their warm-up friendly, but James will be reinstated to the side when he arrives for the tournament opener on Friday.

Pekerman: "James is feeling good; he's a key player for us. There has been a lot of false things said about him, but he's very professional"

— Carl Worswick (@cworswick) May 29, 2016

With a free role in Colombia’s setup, he might be able to prove to Zidane that he deserves more respect and more minutes at Madrid. Or, as with the 2014 World Cup, he can put himself in the shop window.

One thing is for sure—after smiling along at Madrid’s Bernabeu party for their Champions League triumph, James will be desperate to taste glory in which he can play a big part himself.

James Rodriguez's goal for Colombia today. pic.twitter.com/MeEIk8qona

— RMadridHome (@RMadridHome) March 24, 2016

GOOOOOOOOOLLLL CARLOS BACCA @carlos7bacca pic.twitter.com/KhorOS6mB9

— Oscar (@OskrGC) March 24, 2016

Colombia's 2018 World Cup qualification campaign has not been plain sailing thus far, but Los Cafeteros got off to the best possible start against Bolivia on Thursday thanks to James Rodriguez.

In the 10th minute of the high-altitude game in La Paz, the Real Madrid star chested down a Carlos Bacca cross and drove an excellent shot across goal.

It marked James' first goal of this World Cup qualification cycle.

Shortly before the break, Bacca found the net with a similar shot across the face of the goal:

[Twitter]

Former Colombia goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon has been hospitalised after an alleged suicide attempt.

The Guardian cited El Colombiano, which suggested Mondragon, 44, had taken a "large dose of anti-depressants" and was taken to the Valle del Lili clinic in his hometown of Cali, Colombia, on Tuesday suffering from a "metabolic imbalance.” The clinic confirmed he remains under medical observation, per ITV.

According to the Guardian, Mondragon posted a troubling message on his official Instagram prior to the incident, which has since been deleted. It read: “There is only me who can judge my life, and I’m tired of being judged by others without the possibility of defending myself."  

Mondragon became the oldest player to ever feature at a World Cup in 2014, when he came on as an 85th-minute substitute for Colombia in their 4-1 group-stage victory against Japan, aged 43 years and three days, per OptaCan:

43 - Faryd Mondragon is the oldest ever player to appear in a World Cup game (43 years & 3 days old). Warrior.

— OptaCan (@OptaCan) January 13, 2016

The veteran stopper announced his retirement from football following Colombia's elimination at the hands of hosts Brazil in the quarter-finals of the tournament, hanging up his boots with 54 international caps per Transfermarkt.

Mondragon spent a large portion of his club career in South America, including several stints with Argentinian outfits Independiente and Santa Fe.

However, his career also took him across Europe and North America. He made more than 200 appearances for Turkish giants Galatasaray before spending three years at Cologne and playing a single season for Major League Soccer side Philadelphia Union in 2011.

ESTADIO SAUSALITO, VINA DEL MAR — That David Ospina ended up on the losing side was unjust, but the idea of Colombia winning on penalties against Argentina seemed inappropriate, too.

The Arsenal goalkeeper had the game of his life, but despite keeping the score 0-0 for 90 minutes, his side fell 5-4 on penalties.

Argentina deservedly marched on to the semi-finals—where they may end up facing archrivals Brazil—while Los Cafeteros were sent packing.

Meanwhile, Ospina was left to wonder how, despite two phenomenal instances of goalkeeping and a clean sheet, his side had been eliminated.

Let's get one thing straight: Colombia do not deserve to be in the Copa America semi-finals. With the exception of their match against Brazil, they have played poorly.

They lost 1-0 to Venezuela in their first game before beating Brazil by the same score in their second. A goalless performance against Peru left Colombia at the mercy of the team they had just beaten, and in the final group game, Brazil beat Venezuela 2-1 to send Jose Pekerman's men through in third place.

That was how they came to find themselves up against Group B winners Argentina in the last eight, where their tournament ground down to a halt.

With just one goal in four matches, this Colombia were a far cry from the force we saw at the World Cup. That's in part to the poor form of Radamel Falcao—who was finally dropped for this game—and an overall malaise.

One player who did not let the team down was Ospina. And if Chelsea's Petr Cech, who is set to sign for Arsenal, according to the Daily Mail, was watching, he'll know he will face fierce competition between the sticks at the Emirates Stadium.

Ospina was the game's outstanding player in Vina del Mar, pulling off some spectacular stops to keep Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria and company at bay.

His best moment came in the first half as Argentina pushed to break the deadlock. Aguero fired low from close range toward the near post, and Ospina got down well to deny him, with the ball fizzing up into the air.

Who was there to meet it but Messi, the world's best player on current form. He headed the ball toward the goal, surely into the net, but there was Ospina again, completing an outstanding double save.

An Argentinian journalist in the press box compared it to England goalkeeper Gordon Banks' wonder stop against Pele in the 1970 World Cup, and he wasn't far off.

But that wasn't all. As well as darting out to deny Javier Pastore and Di Maria, Ospina anticipated Messi's searching passes and made another unbelievable save with 10 minutes to go.

Nicolas Otamendi also deflected a corner kick toward the goal, but Ospina stretched as far as he could, tipping the ball off the post.

Argentina could barely believe what they had seen. Nobody in the stadium could. How had La Albiceleste not scored? If not on this occasion, one of the other chances?

The answer is Ospina. But even he was not enough to make amends for terrible penalties from Luis Muriel, Jeison Murillo and Juan Zuniga, which eventually consigned Colombia to elimination.

David Ospina hears those Petr Cech rumours, Arsenal. 

Ospina is assumed to be out the door in north London, after a mostly impressive season in goal, as soon as the Gunners complete their long-rumoured pursuit of Cech.

According to BBC Sport, the former Chelsea keeper has agreed to terms with Arsenal.

David Ospina, surplus to requirements at Arsenal. #Chile2015 https://t.co/4Xe1X3OrUI

— Back Page Football (@bpfootball) June 26, 2015

But the Colombian showed his worth on Friday night on international duty, as he made consecutive saves to keep things level at 0-0, denying Argentina's Sergio Aguero first and then Lionel Messi. 

Nice one, #Ospina. pic.twitter.com/MlyteEYjeM

— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) June 26, 2015

Ospina > Cech

— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) June 26, 2015

Argentina went on to win the Copa America quarter-final on penalty kicks (5-4), but Ospina certainly made his case to Arsenal.

[Twitter]