“With my own hands, I’ve killed around 250 people, but only a psychopath keeps count.”
The Two Escobars: When Life And Death Is Not Just A Sports Cliche
“A dark hand intervened, reaching into our psyches. And that’s how we entered the field.”
The first quote above is how ESPN’s latest 30 for 30 documentary, The Two Escobars, opens. With a man speaking Spanish from a prison cell in Medellin, and those subtitles above dancing across the screen. The man’s name is Jhon Jairo Velasquez Vasquez, but he’s known as “Popeye,” the former right hand man to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
The second quote comes from a former member of the Colombian national team, describing their mindset playing the 1994 World Cup as massive favorites, under heavy pressure from the drug dealers that funded the National team.
...Yeah, it’s like that.
Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, the men behind The Two Escobars, cut no corners in telling the story of Andres Escobar, the Colombian soccer star that was murdered in cold blood after scoring an “own goal” in the 1994 World Cup, prompting a loss to the United States that ultimately eliminated the Colombians from the World Cup.
Shortly thereafter, Andres Escobar was murdered in the streets of Medellin.
The murderer was reportedly linked to Pablo Escobar (no relation), who had extensive ties to Colombian futbol, and as such, took the loss particularly hard. The film investigates those ties, and what they meant to Colombia, its soccer program, and ultimately, to Andres Escobar. Do we really need to say more? You’ll want to watch this one.
The English version of the film premieres at 9 p.m. EST on ESPN.
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