Columbian soccer rose significantly in the early 1990s, and Pablo Escobar contributed to this success. Although Pablo was a drug lord he loved soccer and whenever the Columbian team won he could celebrate despite the situation that he was in. He went to stadiums to watch live football, and he celebrated every goal they scored. Drug lords such as Pablo used soccer to launder their money. Pablo supported the teams financially, and it was his joy to see the team beat international teams and won the Copa Libertadores.

The other factor that can be attributed to the rise of Columbian soccer `was Pablo’s soccer fields in poor neighborhoods where his teams which produced players for the Columbian National team played (Zimbalist). The players from these teams also played at the World Cup. This created national pride for the country. Although it can be argued that owning a soccer club for Pablo was a way of making his cocaine money look clean, he had a love for soccer. Pablo had a lot of money so he could afford to invest in the Atlético Nacional soccer team. The team succeeded and rose to the international level because Pablo supplied funds used to buy foreign players as well as retain the local ones.

The circumstances that came to connect Pablo and Andres Escobar were their love for football. Pablo Escobar loved football was passionate about football, and he supported it by giving teams funds and establishing play fields especially in the poor neighborhoods (Zimbalist). Andres Escobar, on the other hand, was a footballer who believed that his country could be transformed through soccer. Andres Escobar’s made a mistake that eliminated his team in the championship. During a match with the United States of America in the World Cup, he scored his own goal which cost his life.  With Pablo and Andres deceased, a  team such as Narco-fútbol could not survive. The two became connected although they were not related because soccer players like Andres received protection from Pablo. It is argued that if Pablo did not die then, Andres could have survived. No one could have dared to touch Andres because Pablo would not have spared his/her life.

“Our society believes that soccer killed Andrés.  No.  Andrés was a soccer player killed by society.” The society killed Andres just because of a genuine mistake that disqualified them in the World Cup. Andre intended to make his country proud and unite his country although his efforts to do this led to his assassination. He was shot shortly after returning home from World Cup (Zimbalist). Although he had made a mistake he was ready to show his face to the people little did he know that there those completely mad for the mistake. Some people had invested a lot in this game by betting in favor of the Columbian team. When Andres scored his goal the team lost which means that people lost a lot of money. They felt that this energetic player had made an unforgivable mistake.

The four men who confronted him during the day of his death uttered words that suggest he was killed to revenge for money lost. The society knew war and violence best, so they did not hesitate to kill Andres for disappointing them at the international level. The documentary is one that illustrates the contribution of the drug lord in the Columbian and how a genuine mistake in sport can lead to death.

Works Cited

Zimbalist, Jeff. THE TWO ESCOBARS & FAVELA RISING. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzKx8ZBYuOA. Accessed 31 Mar 2019.