On April 16, Jorge Luis Pinto, the fiery former Colombia national team manager, stepped up to the podium at the Estadio Pascual Guerrero and wept. Pinto is well-known throughout Latin America as an old-school disciplinarian, whose demonstrative emotions typically involved berating players and officials.
But last week, Pinto was one of hundreds of mourners who attended a public wake at the stadium in Cali to honor Freddy Rincón, who was involved in a car accident on April 11 and died on the 13th, just a day before his 56th birthday. The investigation into the accident is ongoing, with details emerging that cloud the final moments of Rincón’s life, as fans and those that knew him well attempt to make sense of the sudden loss.
“Freddy is a real-life example for this country in how to transform humility into greatness,” said Pinto, before bursting into tears and repeating the same line as he sobbed.
Pinto was the manager who gave Rincón his professional debut in 1986 with Bogotá-based Santa Fe. They remained close throughout Rincón’s 18-year playing career and up until his death. This latest loss has stunned Colombia, a nation that is accustomed to tragedy, but El Coloso, as Rincón was referred to, will be remembered for his class on the pitch and the joy that inspired an entire generation.
Rincón’s career included stints with Napoli and Real Madrid in Europe, and with Palmeiras, Corinthians, Santos, and Cruzeiro in Brazil. He captained the 2000 Corinthians side that defeated Vasco da Gama and won the inaugural Club World Cup.
Rincón won two first division titles at the site of his final tribute with 15-time Colombian champions América de Cali, first in 1990 and again 1992. His friends and family, members of the Colombian Football Federation, local dignitaries and former teammates and coaches, gathered to bid farewell to a player who left an indelible mark on world football.
Rincón’s most memorable moment came during the final group stage match against West Germany at the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Colombians remember exactly where they were and who they were with when Rincón equalized in the 92nd minute. In the biggest match in the nation’s history, Rincón demonstrated the very best of his qualities against the eventual world champions. Rincón was the most complete player that Colombia had at the time, and perhaps the most versatile that the country has ever produced. He was a handful for the Germans that afternoon, with his movement and strength making him a difficult mark.
Rincón was highly technical, yet physically imposing, as well. He had the speed of a sprinter and the deft touch of a first-rate finisher. His composure on the ball allowed him to play centrally, in a wide channel or as a second striker. Rincón could defend and create. And his uncanny connection with Carlos “El Pibe” Valderrama led to countless moments of brilliance and big-game goals for Colombia.
Rincón’s heroics against West Germany won praise in Colombia as the national team’s best-ever goal, and ended the decades-long belief that Colombia could not go toe-to-toe with the world’s elite footballing nations.
When West Germany’s Pierre Littbarski beat Colombian goalkeeper Rene Higuita in the 90th minute, legendary play-by-play commentator William Vinasco said, “That’s unfair. We didn’t deserve this.” Vinasco’s exuberant goal call two minutes later has been replayed millions of times since, and especially so following Rincón’s death.
“That always happens to us after a great game,” said Valderrama after that match in 1990. “Thankfully Rincón saved us, and now we’re really happy.”
Like he had done countless times for both fans and journalists, in 2014, Rincón described to Colombian television exactly what he felt as he found himself one-v-one against German goalkeeper Bodo Ilgner.
“I ran because, man, there was no time left. But I never thought that El Pibe would pass it to me because he was looking in the opposite direction,” Rincón said. “When the ball came to me, so many things went through my head. As I was dribbling I was thinking ‘What can I do here? Do I go far post, or should I beat the goalkeeper with a hard shot?’ It was a good thing that I remained patient because in that moment of patience, the goalkeeper gave me the opportunity to nutmeg him.”
Rincón’s emphatic celebration against West Germany, captured pitch-side by Colombian journalist and photographer José Clopatofsky at Milan’s Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, is now forever immortalized. The photo served as the backdrop for Rincón’s final farewell in Cali.
One of Rincón’s sons, Sebastián, who plays as a winger for Argentine second division side Barracas Central, sat solemnly with his father’s yellow number 19 Colombia shirt draped on his left shoulder. His father’s death was a terrible reminder that tragedy remains linked to Colombian football.
Rincón is now the third player from Colombia’s 1990s golden generation to lose his life in an untimely fashion. Following Colombia’s elimination at the 1994 World Cup, defender Andrés Escobar was shot dead after returning to his hometown of Medellín. Escobar infamously scored an own goal in Colombia’s 2-1 defeat to hosts the United States in their second match of the group stage. His murder occurred on July 2 as the Round of 16 was getting underway.
In 2004, former Colombia striker Albeiro Usuriaga was also killed by gunfire in Cali, where he played alongside Rincón with América de Cali in the early ‘90s. Usuriaga and his trademark dreadlocks and lanky figure never reached the heights that Rincón experienced internationally. But to this day, “Usu,” as he was well-known, is still a cult hero in Colombia and in Argentina, where he briefly starred for Independiente during the club’s championship season in 1994.
Rincón and Usuriaga are also linked by two iconic moments for Colombia’s national team. It was Usuriaga’s goal against Israel in the 1990 qualification playoff that ended Colombia’s 28-year World Cup drought. Usuriaga was cut from the squad that traveled to Italy that year, but his goal in that tense two-legged affair against Israel was the precursor to Rincón’s unforgettable goal against West Germany.
Since the accident, Rincón’s former teammates have reminisced about a generational talent who was just beginning a second career as an outspoken football pundit.
Faustino Asprilla, the former Parma and Newcastle United striker, and another of Colombia’s stalwarts in the 1990s, is now an analyst for ESPN Colombia. While on the air following Rincón’s accident, Asprilla spoke emotionally about his good friend.
“I’m very sad, very confused because Freddy spent a lot of time with me, especially during the holidays and on birthdays,” Asprilla said. “He never let me down.” On the same ESPN set, Óscar Córdoba, Colombia’s goalkeeper at the 1994 World Cup, referred to Rincón as “a hero who became a legend.”
During the most recent Clásico del Valle between América de Cali and Deportivo Cali on April 17, the normally tense matchup between the two archrivals included players from both sides entering the pitch wearing the number 19 Colombia kit that Rincón made famous. And during the Europa League quarterfinal second leg between Barcelona and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Camp Nou, Colombian center forward Rafael Santos Borré dedicated his stunning strike for Frankfurt to Rincón.
Borré later told Colombian outlet Caracol that he had recently trained in Cali with Sebastian Rincón and met Freddy for the first time.
“He really impressed me,” Borré said. “Despite his age, (Rincón) still had that quality that he was known for, quality that I didn’t witness because I was so young. I wanted to dedicate that goal to him because (Rincón) was someone that I had recently been close to.”
RAFAEL BORRÉ TAKE A BOW 🚀 pic.twitter.com/K9z2ih0MuI
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 14, 2022
The investigation into the car crash that killed Rincón has been controversial and conspiracy laden. It was first reported that Rincón was the passenger in the SUV that ran a red light and was struck by a transit bus in Cali’s city center. The passenger side of the vehicle was left mangled, and the other occupants escaped without serious injuries.
However, on Wednesday evening, Colombia attorney general Francisco Barbosa revealed that Rincón was the driver on that night. Barbosa’s investigation included eyewitness accounts, including from two women who were inside the SUV with Rincón. A fourth person, a yet to be identified man, was also a passenger in Rincón’s vehicle.
Authorities are trying to determine who this man is, and whether he is one of two individuals who were captured on a grainy video entering a taxi that sped away from the wrecked vehicle moments after the accident.
(Top photo: Mark Leech/Offside via Getty Images)