Freddy Rincón dies, historical footballer of the Colombian national team and Real Madrid

Freddy Rincón playing a match against the Yugoslavian national team in the World Cup in Italy '90.

June 14, 1990. Mark Leech/Offside (via Getty Image)

Former soccer player Freddy Rincón, who played three World Cups and scored some of the most important goals for his team in the 1990s, died this Wednesday night at the age of 55, after suffering a tragic traffic accident in the city. From Cali.

The former player had entered the Imbanaco Clinic the day before, which has confirmed Rincón's death.

The remembered midfielder of the Colombian national team and Real Madrid, who worked as a sports commentator, was part of the group of stars who put Colombian football on the map at the end of the last century.

Born in Buenaventura, a port on the Pacific, the midfielder began his career as a professional player at the Independiente Santa Fe de Bogotá club in 1988. As an international, he was part of the golden generation that qualified for three consecutive World Cups, scoring 17 goals for the Colombian team.

After winning two national titles with América de Cali in 1990 and 1992, he moved to Palmeiras in Brazil, and in 1994 he made the leap to Europe to wear the shirt of Napoli in Italy.

The following season, in 1995, he arrived at Real Madrid, at the request of coach Jorge Valdano.

The merengue club paid 500 million pesetas for his pass.

Rincón played twenty games in the Spanish league, but felt mistreated at the Bernabéu, where he had few opportunities and was the victim of racist comments and xenophobic shouting from a sector of the fans, a stage in his career that he described as "unfortunate" .

Back in Brazil, Rincón played for Santos and Cruzeiro, and was captain of Corinthians that won the first FIFA Club World Cup in 2000. He even had the pleasure of scoring the goal against the Saudi team Al Nassr in the semifinals. prevented Real Madrid from reaching the final.

However, Rincón's relationship with the merengue team improved over the years.

This Monday, the official Twitter account of Real Madrid had sent him a message of support.

Rincón, with a very outstanding step through the Brazilian league, was the protagonist of two of the best moments of the Colombian team.

“He scored the 1-1 goal against Germany, which gave Colombia passage to the second round of the World Cup in Italy 90, and he scored two of the five goals in Colombia's victory against Argentina for the World Cup qualifiers of the United States in 1994”, in the Monumental stadium of Buenos Aires, remembers the sports journalist Nicolás Samper.

The photo of Rincón's goal shout, with his mouth open and his fists clenched, to celebrate the hourly draw against Germany in the last match of the Italia 90 group stage, is perhaps the most memorable postcard in Colombian football.

Francisco Maturana's admired team, returning to the World Cup after decades of absence, needed at least a draw to continue in the competition.

In the last minute, Carlos Valderrama leaked a pass to Rincón, who after a prodigious stride defined between the legs of goalkeeper Illgner and thus unleashed the euphoria of the country.

“That goal was a catharsis”, says Samper, “Colombia was contained due to the violence that it experienced every day due to drug trafficking.

Even the previous year (1989) the national championship had been canceled due to the murder of a referee in the middle of the tournament.

It was a goal that gave us excuses to cry with joy, a feeling forgotten in those years.

It was the most delicious method to vent so much pain.”

Rincón's goal against Germany was the most delicious method to vent so much pain

Samper remembers Rincón as a physical wonder, a mass for any rival combatant.

"He was an extraordinary footballer who, unfortunately, could not show that version at Real Madrid, but he could in the rest of the shirts he wore".

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