BEACON

The goal came late in the second half. Ricardo’s rum came in a cardboard carton box. It was around 1pm in the afternoon and other things were happening too, and it really didn’t matter who you were or what you looked like, just as long as you were dressed in a yellow jersey, swinging your fists, and screaming ¡hijueputa¡s and ¡joda!s and ¡Aayyyyyyy MARICA!s and praying deeper and harder than you have for any God, any religion, any personal wish, that Colombia would win.

After supreme footballer Andrés Escobar got murdered for committing an own goal in 1994, Colombia’s national team started to droop. Between 2002-2010, it missed out on three World Cup tournaments. So in 2014, when Colombia played Ivory Coast and claimed a 2-1 victory, the world around me turned into a zoo. I wasn’t worried though. I knew the rules of the game. Continue reading on Beacon…