Coach Reinaldo Rueda, the successor to Portugal’s Carlos Queiroz, was sacked only in the fourth term of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Qatar after the gruesome beating coffee farmers suffered at the Rodrigo Paz Stadium, November 17, 2020. He said at a press conference something that was not truth. Eleven months after that sporting disaster that follows football in the north – like a shadow that completely covers it – the native of Cali declared: “Colombia has already forgotten the 6-1 that Ecuador gave them in Quito.”

The truth is different. That football debacle has not been banished from the collective memory of Colombians. Rueda also spoke that time (October 2021), in terms reported by the newspaper The viewerfrom Bogotá, about the need to “make them believe in themselves again”, in relation to the active players in this qualification process.

There was no way. Those 6-1 prescribed by the rival that destroyed Colombia and negatively affected the footballers of the country of Cumbia who did not reach Qatar 2022. Ecuador, on the other hand, sealed the ticket to that World Cup.

To this day, Colombia has not forgotten the humiliating beating inflicted by the team led by Gustavo Alfaro. Why should it be done so easily, just from one World Cup to another? Brazil has five world crowns in its showcases and every time it hosts Uruguay, be it a friendly or an official match, the memory of the Maracanazo in 1950 is reawakened.

Demons of Colombia

Argentina, another power – which Colombia is not -, the team of Mario Kempes, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi wears three stars on the Albiceleste jersey, one for each World Cup won. However, they will not be able to shake off the memory of the 6-1 that Czechoslovakia sent them back to Buenos Aires, Sweden in 1958. Colombia still hasn’t forgotten the massacre in Quito. And it will be like this for a long time.

Various Colombian media referred, explicitly and tacitly, to what for them was the fateful result of the last days. It was mentioned when the next game appeared on the calendar on Tuesday in Quito: the two teams will meet in the fourth round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Will there be an exorcist in Quito who will rid Colombian football of its demons or a psychiatrist who will treat the mental disorders of the players, while the 6-1 is fresh in their minds? What will you need every time you reach almost 2900 meters above sea level with the memory of 6-1 in your luggage?

“Bat tactics”

the newspaper New era, from Bogotá, announced that “Colombia is returning to Ecuador, where it was defeated 6-1 last time. Coach Néstor Lorenzo must apply corrective measures to avoid the same fate, against an opponent that has fast forwards.”

The newspaper adds, with signs that the wounds have not healed: “The memory of the last visit of the Colombian team to Quito to meet Ecuador in the World Cup qualifiers is not the most pleasant. The national team, then led by the Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz, came to that duel with low morale and instead of raising it, in the end it further sank it. That day, Tuesday, November 17, 2020, was a debacle. 6-1 which was not even on the account of the Ecuadorians and that marked the end of Queiroz’s adventure as the head of the national team.”

New era gives recommendations: “the planning of the match against Uruguay (2-2) was not ideal. In order to face Ecuador and not risk a repeat of 6-1 or a similar result, a detailed analysis of Colombia’s shortcomings and the opposition’s movements is required. In order to avoid a new disaster, it is not necessary to plan the match with ‘bat tactics’, i.e. 10 players hanging from the posts and the goalkeeper in front of them. Colombia has the players to match Ecuador. What is needed is for Lorenzo to choose the starting line-up well and for his approach to be impeccable.”

‘There are consequences 6-1’

Meanwhile, Richard Ríos, the Brazilian Palmeiras midfielder, tried to ease the pressure and not allude to the 6-1. “We will do what we are working on there (in Quito). If it’s time to score in transition, it’s done; If it’s time to score, it’s marked, and if it’s time to attack, it’s attacked. “We’re not going to go out and hide, we’re going to do everything we’re working on to get a result,” the Colombian said.

In the program Blessed ballchain ESPN, the Colombian panelists said things like these about the match: “before it was Ecuador-Colombia hand in hand in Quito; Today the favorite is Ecuador”, “they have already lost respect for us”, “if you give this team the advantage, they will score four (goals)”, “what is worrying about the match with Ecuador is 6-1”, “There are consequences.”

Also: “God forbid we don’t lose”, “the best result for Colombia is a draw”, “it is very important not to start losing in order not to repeat 6-1”, “this is Colombia, even though they are at the top of the table and have two points is no longer above Ecuador in football”, “how can we say that Ecuador looks up to us, Ecuador has taught us to look face to face”. (D)