The day when the Argentine National Team turned its back on Colombia and refused to play the Copa América that we won in our country

Known by many as the most ‘atypical’ Copa América of those played over 48 editions. With Colombia as champion, Argentina absent and other details that remind us that the tournament played in the coffee-growing country in 2001 was full of curiosities.

By the year 200, Colombia was experiencing a wave of violence by armed groups such as the FARC. Months before the country was confirmed as the host of the Copa América, several events occurred that set off alarm bells internationally and in CONMEBOL.

The first attack in Medellín occurred on January 11, 2001, when a car bomb exploded in front of the El Tesoro shopping center. This city was to be the headquarters of Group C, which included Argentina, which began to raise doubts among the Albicelestes.

On May 4, a similar attack occurred at the Hotel Torre de Cali, where the offices of the Copa América organizers were located. Days later, the police reported a new attack in Medellín and the discovery of explosives in Bogotá, Itagüi, Bello and Barrancabermeja.

Faced with this wave of violence, CONMEBOL asked the Colombian government, then headed by Andrés Pastrana, to guarantee the safety of the event. To prevent it from being cancelled, Pastrana named it ‘the Peace Cup’.

“We will not allow a minority to try to destroy an event of the magnitude of the Copa America. This is the cup of peace. It is the cup we want to give to the world.”the president said at a press conference.

“We have all intelligence agencies working to guarantee the safety of all those attending,” said Pastrana, noting that Colombia is “a country that is fighting and will succeed.”

On June 5, CONMEBOL decided that Colombia would host the tournament that would take place between July 11 and 29, 2001. However, a new act of violence put the Copa América in jeopardy, The kidnapping of the vice president of the Colombian Football Federation, Hernán Mejía Campuzano led to an urgent meeting by the event organizers.

The meeting discussed the possibility of Brazil hosting the Copa América, while another proposal was to postpone it for a year, but this was not possible because the 2002 World Cup in Korea-Japan was to be held.

The FARC released Mejía Campuzano, who traveled to Argentina with the Colombian delegation and it was reiterated once again that the Copa América would be held in our country.

This was the Copa América that took place in Colombia in 2001

Conmebol’s decision caused a bitter taste in countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Canada, who decided to oppose the CAmerica in Colombia due to the wave of insecurity.

Canada withdrew from participating as a guest because it was unable to field a team, and Costa Rica participated as a substitute instead. Meanwhile, Brazil decided to send its entire reserve team, without Ronaldo and Rivaldo.

The Argentine national team decided to hold a meeting with the executive committee and cancel their participation during a press conference: “It was a unanimous decision. Argentina will not travel due to the lack of security and the current conditions in Colombia.”

“It is very risky to go and we also maintain that there is a great inconsistency among the South American leaders, who one day decide one thing and the next day change everything, and this is what happened with the Copa America.”

Julio Grondona, head of the AFA, had expressed his opposition to the participation of the team led by Marcelo Bielsafollowing a threat received weeks ago at the Argentine embassy in Bogotá.

The Argentine team was replaced by Honduras, who caused a big surprise in the Copa América after eliminating Brazil 2-0 in Manizales in the quarterfinals.

Colombia and the team that led it to become champion of the 2001 Copa América

This is how the ‘Tricolor’ team was formed to host the Copa América:

Colombia was in Group A of the tournament along with Chile, Ecuador and Venezuela. DThey defeated Venezuela 2-0, Ecuador 1-0 and Chile 2-0; they later faced Peru, whom they beat 3-0 with goals from Víctor Hugo Aristizabal and Giovanni Hernández.

In the semi-finals, Colombia faced Honduras, while Mexico faced Uruguay. In the Copa America final, Mexico and Colombia faced each other.

This was the final between Colombia and Mexico in 2001

July 29, 2001 was a historic day for football, not only because of the development of the Copa América in the midst of the conflict that the country was experiencing, but also because the duel between Colombia and Mexico was very complex for both teams.

The El Campín stadium had 50,699 spectators, who were waiting to find out if Colombia would be champion for the first time or if Mexico would be the first team outside of CONMEBOL to take the victory.

The match was very close, as the first half was marked by a lack of goals, neither the Colombians nor the Mexicans wanted to lose the duel. In the second half and around minute 65, the long-awaited goal came.

Iván López lifted a cross from the right that Iván Ramiro Córdoba converted into the last goal of the match and with which the ‘Tricolor’ would win.

“That Copa America united the country. I said it at Conmebol: the most important tournament, with the most prestige, is the Copa America. It turns out that tomorrow or the day after, the aliens will come and analyze the football phenomenon: You will find that there was a team here that won the Cup, that did not concede a single goal and that won all the matches.“, said Francisco Maturana to EL TIEMPO.

“Apart from that, we toured the Coffee Region by bus: at 2 in the afternoon you would meet workers in the streets and they would take off their caps and laugh. I would say, what are they laughing about, at this hour and with this sun, and it was the joy they had of seeing the National Team pass by. You can take away whatever you want, but the joy we gave to the country was undeniable,” recalled recently, in an interview with EL TIEMPO, the coach of that team, Francisco Maturana.

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