Football soap opera scores big in Colombia

BOGOTA: With Colombia’s national football team close to qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, viewers are tuning in by the millions to a telenovela about their dream team of the 1990s.

The soap opera – known simply as LaSeleccion (marketed in English as FootballDreams,aWorldofPassion) – is an undeniable runaway smash hit.

The series focuses on the personal struggles and love stories of the national team’s four main players: Carlos “ElPibe”(TheKid) Valderrama, goalkeeper Rene “El Loco” (Madman) Higuita, striker Faustino Asprilla and midfielder Freddy Rincon.

These players formed the backbone of the team that played in World Cup tournaments in Italy in 1990, the United States in 1994, and France in 1998.

“These characters are representative of Colombia, and rich from a dramatic point of view,” said series co-director Ricardo Coral.

Valderrama, known for his trademark bushy blond afro, was the team captain and a born leader. Internationally he played for Montpellier in France, Real Valladolid in Spain, and later with US football teams.

Higuita, who sported long, curly black hair, was the goalkeeper known for his spectacular “scorpion kick” and for daring forays far from his goal posts. He also played for Real Valladolid, and for Veracruz in Mexico.

Striker Asprilla, a media diva, played internationally in Italy and Britain, while midfielder Rincon, who played for SSC Napoli, Real Madrid and teams in Brazil, was known for his tenacity and determination, Coral said.

Colombian soaps in the past years have focused on the usual fare of steamy love stories as well as “narco dramas” – stories about the country’s decades-long conflict involving drug traffickers, leftist guerillas and right-wing paramilitary forces.

“We wanted to state – loud and clear – that Colombia is not only made up of drug traffickers and paramilitary fighters,” Coral said.

“We want to change that view and give a fresh one that shows high personal values, hard work, and massive effort, which also represents us.”

Coral acknowledges Colombia’s dark side, “but we’re fed up with seeing it.”

The decision to shy away from drug trafficking led producers to cut out a scene in which Higuita meets Colombia’s most famous drug lord, the late Pablo Escobar.

Colombian football clubs were soaked with drug money in the 1980s and 1990s, so it was impossible to avoid the topic.

“We mention it, but it’s not a main part of the storyline,” said Coral, who acknowledged taking some artistic liberties.

“The story is based on their lives, but it’s not a fully accurate portrayal. We had to introduce changes to create more tension for dramatic purposes,” he said.

Part of the success of the series relies on the physical similarities between the actors and the football stars.

The first part of the series ends with the 5-0 blowout Colombia dished out to Argentina in Buenos Aires in a 1993 World Cup qualifying match.

Filming for the second part of the series begins early next year, and will take the team through the qualifying round and into the 1998World Cup in France. — AFP Source: Malaysian Meteorological Department/AP