Once Caldas broke the history of the Libertadores Cup, literally. In celebration of that milestone in Colombian football, on July 1, 2004, Herly Alcázar shook the trophy with such force that it fell into pieces. It will be 20 years since the happiest moment in Manizales, which spread to the entire country. What happened is still symbolic: a humble team, which just a year before had been crowned Colombian champion for the first time, defeated three greats on the way to glory: Santos, Sao Paulo and Boca Juniors.
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“Everyone said that Herly was very coarse, that he took the Cup and destroyed it. But it must be said that the trophy they brought us here was ugly, it was badly glued. I have seen other replicas of the Cup, even in the Conmebol museum, and they were much more beautiful.” The phrase is from Miguel Rhodes, kinesiologist and club prop man for more than 20 years, who lived through all the Eleven titles. Rodas keeps lots of anecdotes from that path that took Eleven to the top of the continent. Starting with the preseason of 2004, which began very early, due to punishment from the managers.
“The 2003 title was so hard-fought, so long-awaited, that the celebrations in Manizales were permanent. The people supported the team and, to be honest, we dedicated ourselves to partying. When we reacted, it was too late: we did not qualify for the finals,” Rodas recalled.
The Caldas team was crowned the best football team in America in 2004.
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‘We have to stop the rumba and the chuckling’: Montoya
As punishment, the entire team was summoned on January 2, 2004 at 7 am at the Palogrande stadium: “The teacher (Luis Fernando) Montoya He brought together the big players on the team. He told them: ‘If you want me to stay, I’ll stay, I’m counting on you. But here we have to stop the rumba and the sucking, we have a Libertadores in charge and we can make it historic.’”
To oxygenate the team, but also to keep it away from the Manizales Fair, Once Caldas did preseason in Bolivia. They had the ‘milk’ flight: Bogotá-Caracas-Quito-Lima-Santa Cruz. From there, they lost the connection to La Paz. They had to stop at a roadside hotel, where, according to Arnulfo Valentierra and Sergio Galván, there was a monster in a room.
“I was hanging around there when they called me from the lobby, that Mr. Valentierra and Mr. Galván were looking for him. ‘Miguelito, come quickly, they’re scary in this room! In this room there is a monster, something very strange.’ A very loud growl could be heard, the two of them hugging on the bed. When he started to look underneath, that’s where the growling came from. It was an old, sick dog, a stray dog. The hotel was so bad that that dog had gotten in,” Rodas recalled.
The Libertadores draw put Once Caldas to face Vélez Sársfield, Maracaibo and Fénix in the first phase. The club’s goal was to reach the round of 16. Objective accomplished. The team only lost one game, against Vélez as a visitor.
Once Caldas in 2004.
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After the first phase, Once Caldas lost Galván, its historic scorer and a guide in the dressing room: he accepted an offer from the MLS. But there were other leaders. Even during leisure hours: “Samuel (Vanegas), who was the captain, led everything. That team was very cool. He guided the times: ‘We’re getting out of hand in rumba, let’s stop,’ he said. Or he also managed them: ‘This week we are going to party, but everyone, we are on this side. He who doesn’t want to go, goes and doesn’t drink, but everyone has to go,’ he said. We were united even when partying,” Rodas said.
Secrets of the champion Once Caldas
Being champions of the Libertadores had not yet crossed their minds. But when they saw that the rival in the round of 16 was Barcelona de Guayaquil, they became excited. It was, according to Rodas, the hardest series of all. “There we were 0-0 and we believed that here we were going to demolish them physically, that the height was going to weigh on them. They stood up to us: they started winning with a goal from Gavica. Then Jorge Agudelo tied with a cue goal and on penalties there was always a special faith in Henao,” he recalled.
Arnulfo Valentierra It was key in the quarterfinals against Santos. “The game there was a lot of management. They scored a goal for us with 10 minutes left. And Valentierra, who stings more of a pineapple chili, went into the void and was left with a ball to hit with the inside edge. The ball hit him and he hit it with the outside edge: it went to the goalkeeper’s far post. It was a lucky goal. In Manizales it was crazy, Henao saved everything and Arnulfo scored one of the best goals I saw in Palogrande, a spectacular free kick,” said Rodas.
In the semifinals they faced Sao Paulo, which, for Rodas, was, by far, the best team in the Libertadores. “There they made us feel inferior. When we went to train at their headquarters, they sent us to one of the furthest fields they had, there were no less than two helicopters flying over the premises, there were easily 100, 150 journalists covering the training. They told us, in Portuguese, you don’t exist, you’re going to eat five of us. “That hurt the boys’ egos,” he recalled.
Rodrigo (R) of the Brazilian team Sao Paulo, disputes the ball with the attacker Elkin Soto of the Colombian Once Caldas during the semifinal of Copa Libertadores de América, at the Morumbi Stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil on June 9, 2004. AFP PHOTO /Vanderlei ALMEIDA
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Henao was one of the leaders. But he was not very talkative. That day, at the Morumbi, he made a gesture that filled the group with confidence. “When the warm-up ended, he said: ‘Guys, they won’t score against me here. I’ll hand you a clean slate.’ Henao’s game that day was a 10-point game. The first ball was a volley into the corner. That started to spread.”
In the return game in Manizales, Rodas received the worst scolding of his life, from Luis Fernando Montoya. “We started winning with a dirty goal from Alcázar. Samuel suffered a blow, doctor Osorio and I went in, but we didn’t want to treat him: they forced us to do so and we had to take him off the field. The player who had to score Vanegas was free and they tied the game. There he gave me the whole prof: ‘To get a player out, he has to be bleeding!’. Thank goodness for that masterful play by Javier Araújo and that superb definition by Agudelo. That was the first time, in the entire Cup, that we thought we could be champions,” he recalled.
Once Caldas in the 2004 Libertadores Cup.
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Montoya’s speech before the final struck a chord. “The coach asked us who had our own house. One or two raised their hands. ‘Well, guys, that’s where everyone’s house is. Because after losing the Cup, a few of us here are going to have the opportunity for an important contract, they’re going to keep earning a fortune. They’re the ones who have the prestige, the fame and the money,'” said Rodas.
When we were drawn against them in the final, we realised that they were just like any other. We saw Carlos Tevez arriving at a party at 7am, others entering the rooms with women.
There was one factor that was key to gaining confidence: he met Boca twice at the same hotel in Buenos Aires, the Intercontinental. “When we went to play against Vélez, Boca was concentrated there to face Independiente. It was all admiration, photos, autographs, far from imagining that we were going to meet in the final. Then, when we faced Fénix, there was no direct flight to Montevideo, we met again and now we called each other by name. When we played them in the final, we realized that they were guys like any other. We saw Carlos Tevez arriving at 7 am from a party, others entering the rooms with women.”
Everything played. Even the cabals, like the black t-shirt that became an icon. “There was a leader who was a mufa: when he entered the dressing room, we lost. When they saw him approaching, they themselves asked us to close the locker room. The uniform thing, at that time, was very precarious. Today the teams have three, four different uniforms. We only had one white and one black. The supplier was FSS. Since some shirts were given away, I went around with a needle and thread, changing numbers, reforming some shirts. The first time we used black, we liked the look, the equipment looked powerful. The boys began to ask for it, as if it strengthened them,” Rodas said.
Jhon Viáfara fights for the ball with Boca’s Carlos Tévez.
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The 0-0 in the first leg at La Bombonera, as well as another brilliant night for Henao, was marked by an anecdote with Jhon Viáfara. “That guy was more scared than a blind man’s shoe. At that time we didn’t have access to energy drinks. Biocros was in fashion, which came in packets and was mixed with water, and they drank a litre of it in sips. The doctor gave me several packets, to drink that in the space of two hours so that everything was absorbed. Viáfara was a bit distracted, he hadn’t taken it: not only did he take it in one gulp, but he had put in four or five more packets,” said Rodas.
“Once on the pitch, Viáfara kept coming to talk to the coach, who would ask the referee to let him go to the bathroom. They scolded him. Then he asked to be changed. Until the coach got angry and told him ‘shit there!’ And he did! I had to grab some bottles of sparkling water and try to wash him. Whenever Viáfara was malicious, he grabbed the ball, advanced and scored a goal, because no one came near him, he smelled terrible,” he added.
![Once Caldas, with the Copa Libertadores trophy.](https://imagenes.eltiempo.com/uploads/2024/06/28/667f8c8f50079.jpeg)
Once Caldas, with the Copa Libertadores trophy.
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In the intermission, Viáfara had to be given an anti-diarrheal medication. Thank goodness Once Caldas played in black. “The uniform was left in a corner of the bathroom. Until someone told me ‘Miguel, do you have bags to put wet clothes in?’ Well, that person grabbed the Viáfara uniform and went and exchanged it for a new Boca uniform!” “Boca’s prop man, Roberto Prado, wanted to kill us.”
Viáfara was once again the protagonist in the return game. His goal opened the way to the Cup. “We rehearsed that goal on June 30, 2004 at 6:30 pm We went up to Palogrande to train. Viáfara told ‘Panelo’ Valencia to do medium-distance work. ‘Panelo’ threw a low ball at him: it bounced off Viáfara until a check from Messi, but he hit it and hung it at an angle. ‘Leave it like that, save one for tomorrow,’ ‘Panelo’ told him. The next day he did the same thing!
Then came Boca’s tie, the penalty shootout and Henao’s heroic performance. Once Caldas was champion of America. “Everything that happened was very beautiful. For an intermediate city like Manizales, with a medium local history and zero international history, having the possibility of experiencing something that countries like Bolivia and Venezuela have not had, was something very nice. Those who were on the field experienced an absolute frenzy,” Rodas said. The history of the Libertadores was broken.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Deputy Editor
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