The end was calamitous. Pablo was killed by police in December 1993 after a bloody shootout. Andrés was gunned down six months later outside a Colombian nightclub, 10 days after he accidentally kicked a goal into his own team’s net in the 1994 World Cup, eliminating the team.
The suspicion is that Andrés’s murder was ordered by a drug baron who had bet money on the Colombian team and was upset over the loss. Some speculate that the 27-year-old soccer star wouldn’t have been killed if Pablo had been around; his love for his soccer players, they suggest, was so great he would have forgiven Andrés for his blunder.
"These two characters were opposites in life," says Michael. "But they both shared this passionate love for the same sport. Their deaths marked the end of the golden years of soccer in Colombia."
Over the years, the country has made strides in cleaning up its image. The murder rate is down, cities are safer, and soccer is not plagued by corruption, Michael says. "Andrés was a straight shooting beacon of purity and morality," he says. "His death marked the beginning of the healing process."
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