Colombia in the Copa América
Colombia are in the final with Argentina in the 2024 Copa América. Winning it once in 2001, they are up against Argentina this time, led by Lionel Messi, who are the current champions. The Argentines want to retain the trophy and it would add to an impressive run of silverware including the most recent World Cup.
Colombia however, has a national obsession with football and the current squad are hoping to gatecrash and spoil the party.
Glories past and present with the Colombian national side.
The Squad
Colombia's national team is currently riding pretty high, with a healthy third position in their World Cup qualifying group alongside their arrival to this final. Captain James Rodríguez is still there, and still pronouncing his first name /HA-mez/. This is the phonetic pronunciation in Spanish, and is a common Latino custom with names of Anglophone origin. Liverpool's Luis Díaz is there too, alongside a fair few English Premiership-based players and others scattered across UEFA and Latin American leagues.
The Coffee Men
The squad is known as the Cafeteros, a reference to the fame of Colombia's coffee industry. You get regular references to salsa dancing with the football team, so the country has a rich culture that the players like to show off to the world.
The Fans
Colombia is one of those countries in which not everyone is a football fan, but most people like to get behind the team, get an afternoon off work and head home to a house party with friends to shout at the TV.
If you are ever lucky enough to be in the country whenever the team are playing, the place can seem insane. We were there on a few occasions and joined in with the locals inside shopping centres with galleries lined with bars and restaurants jammed to the rafters with fans. The party atmosphere is electric and even if the team loses, the people of the country remain happy and optimistic, despite their daily travails.
The Match
A late start if you're in Europe, 1AM GMT or 2AM CET! However, after a delay of over an hour and a half, a near riot at the stadium entrance a la Eurocup in London back in July 2021, a 25-minute Shakira concert over half-time, things ended up with an Argentinian win.
In any case, the Colombian people get right back at backing up their team and always look forward to new tournaments and challenges. At the time of writing, the female Olympic team are doing well and the male side are riding relatively high in the South American World Cup qualifying group. As we've said previously, football, like coffee and arepa bread, are a national obsession, and the Colombians like nothing more than a party, possibly involving all three, and a beer or rum of course!
