Colombia’s fan army turning Moscow yellow
Los Cafeteros support at the Spartak Stadium could be 10,000-strong, writes Ben Rumsby
If World Cup results were dictated by the sheer devotion of a country’s fanbase, then England can forget about football coming home when they play Colombia tomorrow night. For, surely, no team have a more dedicated following in Russia than Los Cafeteros, whose supporters have already turned Saransk, Kazan and Samara into downtown Bogota and are now threatening to do the same to Moscow.
The South Americans’ yellowshirted groupies should outnumber England fans at the Spartak Stadium, with 30,000 having cheered their team on so far in Russia and another 10,000 expected to travel to the capital for tomorrow’s game.
According to official Fifa figures, 68,667 tickets have been sold in Colombia via its official World Cup sales platform, bettered only by the United States, Brazil and Germany – and more than twice as many as in England. All this despite Colombia being almost four times as far from Russia as England, with an average wage more than four times lower and a population more than four million smaller.
Goalkeeper David Ospina, of Arsenal, said: “The support has been incredible – it’s been our inspiration. There are Colombians all over the world but the support here, in Russia, has meant everything to us.
“It shows the passion and belief that we have in our country. It has felt like a home game in every game – they make more noise, have more colour and always have more supporters than the rest. It shows how much football means to our country.”
Exemplifying Colombians’ commitment are Mateo Caicedo and Cesar Cruz from Pereira, who told The Daily Telegraph they had flown to Madrid a month ago before hiring a motorhome and driving to Saransk for Colombia’s Group H opener against Japan.
“It took a week,” 27-year-old Caicedo said, revealing he and Cruz, 29, then drove for 24 hours to Sochi for Germany v Sweden (they did not have tickets for Poland v Colombia in Kazan), 26 hours to Samara for Senegal-colombia and, finally, 17 hours to Moscow.
The pair are not the only Colombians to have undertaken this epic road trip, according to Caicedo, who said he had spotted “three or four” other yellow, blue and red motorhomes on their travels. Admitting the decision to drive had been down to cost, Caicedo said he and Cruz did not have tickets for tomorrow’s game.
The tickets sold in Colombia by Fifa – 14,000 more than for the last World Cup in neighbouring Brazil – may not even account for the number of fans they have in Russia, according to Caicedo.
“Many Colombians live in Europe,” he said. “It’s easier for fans to travel from Europe to Russia than from Europe to Brazil.”
He also said supporters had come from as far afield as Australia, Number of World Cup tickets sold in Colombia
a claim that was immediately corroborated by Cristian Pooul, who told The Telegraph he had flown to Moscow from Perth.
It was no surprise to see Caicedo and Pooul forecast a win for Colombia, but what was a real shock was that neither could remember the names of any of England’s players.
“Harry Kane!” exclaimed Caicedo after looking up their squad on his smartphone. “He’s a warrior. He’s a good player.”
One Colombian who did have tickets for the match was Juan Pablo Villamil from Bogota, who was at least able to recall the names of England’s best players. What he insisted he had no knowledge of, however, was the dreadful shoot-out record of Colombia’s opponents after he said of tomorrow’s game: “I think they’re going to
penalties.”