The Two Escobars – A Documentary Film with Dark Soccer Ties
As part of its 2010 World Cup coverage and celebrating its thirty year anniversary with its 30 for 30 film series, ESPN debuts on Tuesday a film from Jeff and Michael Zimbalist.
The Two Escobars Summary:
While rival drug cartels warred in the streets and the country’s murder rate climbed to highest in the world, the Colombian national soccer team set out to blaze a new image for their country. What followed was a mysteriously rapid rise to glory, as the team catapulted out of decades of obscurity to become one of the best teams in the world.
Andres Escobar - Captain Columbia national team 1994 World Cup
Pablo Escobar - drug czar, soccer fan
Central to this success were two men named Escobar, born in the same city in Colombia: Andres Escobar and Pablo Escobar shared a fanatical childhood love for soccer: Andrés, the captain and poster child of the National Team, and Pablo, the infamous drug baron who pioneered the phenomenon known in the underworld as “Narco-soccer.” But just when Colombia was expected to win the 1994 FIFA World Cup and transform its international image, the shocking murder of Andrés Escobar dashed the hopes of a nation.
Through the glory and the tragedy, fifteen years later, The Two Escobars probes the secret marriage of crime and sport, and uncovers the surprising connections between the murders of Andrés and Pablo.
