“You’re really different”

Francisco ‘Pacho’ Maturana is the man of the week in Bilbao. The Colombian coach (Quibdo, 1949) will participate today in the Thinking Football film festival organized by the Athletic Foundation. ‘The doctor’ – he was a dentist – coached Valladolid (he achieved the first victory in the history of the Pucelanos in San Mamés), Atlético led by Jesús Gil and also the Colombian team that played in the World Cup in the United States in 1994. He fell for the first time after losing to the host team and Romania and defeating Switzerland. Arriving in his country, he experienced the saddest phase of his professional life, the killing of center back Andrés Escobar, who had scored an own goal against the Americans. Then it was interpreted as revenge by drug traffickers for money lost in gambling, but Maturana categorically rejects this version: “It’s because of the situation in the country. At that time, everyone was killed in Colombia.”

You are the main protagonist of Thinking Football 2024. What does it mean to participate in this celebration?

It is a source of pride. I am very grateful for this invitation to me here, a region that has a certain harmony with what my journey has been. I am a person who believes in his region, in the people of his region and from there we gave birth to Colombian football and Nacional football. It is very beautiful. When I come here I always feel that you are a different person, proudly different.

Today he will participate in a speech after the screening of the film ‘Colombia, path to glory’ directed by Luis Ara, which chronicles the period between 1994 and 2001, years in which Colombian football achieved a great series of achievements. What was Colombia at that time?

When I went to the World Cup in Italy I realized that Colombia was recognized for the problems we were having in terms of violence and drug issues. Football and how that group interpreted the game were vehicles to show that we were more than drugs. We had fantasy, friendship, generosity, fight, dedication, method… This is what the world began to understand about Colombia.

You led Colombia to the World Cup in the United States after defeating Argentina 0-5 in Buenos Aires.

In the ’93 Copa América we faced Argentina twice and in both games we drew. Argentina is unbeaten in nearly 30 games. We have shown that if they want to kick there is a team to respond to, if they want to play soccer there is a rival to play with. We had confidence.

The World Cup came to the United States and things did not go well. They were eliminated in the first phase.

I am a lifelong learner. No player, coach or leader has said that Colombia is a favorite for the World Cup. We have never been. There are 217 federations and only 10 have won a World Cup. Spain, watched by everyone, won in 2010 after 90 years. Argentina qualified flawlessly for the World Cup in Korea and Japan and then they were eliminated in the first round and nobody said anything. They knocked us out in the first round and everyone said we had grown, when Colombia had no argument to be champions.

After the World Cup came the murder of Andrés Escobar. You have experienced this yourself because you have been a coach before.

Andrés came with us back to Colombia and was able to stay, but he came as an exercise of brotherhood, to be close to us and take responsibility for the disaster. The day Andrés was killed, no one knows how many doctors they killed, how many policemen they killed, how many lawyers they killed… At that time everyone was killed in Colombia. Andrés was killed, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It wasn’t that they were waiting for him for their own goal, no.

So, it has nothing to do with gambling and drug trafficking.

No, it is because of the situation in the country. At that time everyone was killed in Colombia, whoever drew first had everything to win. I don’t think we are too harmful to plan to kill someone for our own purposes. Even the bad guys in Colombia can’t do that.

I imagine this is the saddest phase of your professional life.

One is hurt by what is happening in the country. Andrés’ own goal is covered by threats and that is painful for one. One is technician of the week, I work all week to play on Sunday. The team that played against the United States was not the one I worked for, the team that played was the one I had to put in place to over protect the safety of the threat players.

Have you received personal threats?

In Colombia, someone said to me, ‘Pacho, here in this country, someone who is going to do something doesn’t threaten you, they do it to you, they don’t warn you.’

Before the World Cup in the USA, he coached Valladolid. How was your first experience in Spain?

Unbelievable. There comes a time in life when a person looks for things to make them happy. A person realizes that happiness is when the family is in order. I still have relationships with many of the players I had, they remember Pacho a lot, thanking me for what I was. That’s more than a title. It happened to me in Argentina and I didn’t win. But I came to Argentina and people recognized me. That has to do with how you live your life. I came here at a time when racism existed, existed and will always exist. And I, a black boy from Colombia, do a television program here in Spain. It’s worth it. In Valladolid a man came who wanted to be with me and he was Juan Manuel Lillo. He says now I am part of his training. A man also arrived with a card, he wanted to see Maturana train to Valladolid. Do you know who that is? Fabio Capello. I feel proud, it’s something that gives me light.

With you as coach, Valladolid won for the first time in its history at San Mamés, 0-1 on January 20, 1991 with a goal from Onesimo. Do you remember that fight?

With Onesimus as a successor. I remember it because that match had a big impact on the press for the win for the first time in Bilbao.

He then went to Jesús Gil’s Atlético de Madrid. What memories do you have of that time?

Miguel Ángel Gil followed me to Cali. I became an American champion. I came to Madrid to watch Real Madrid train. The taxi driver told me ‘you’re going to waste your time, they’re going to buy referees, they don’t have to train, you’re not going to learn anything’. When the referee blew the whistle they sang ‘This way, this way, this is how Madrid wins’. He told me to go to Atlético. Time passed and when I returned to Spain to train Atlético the same taxi driver took me. He didn’t charge me. I’m happy with life because I’m going to Atlético. The backbone is Caminero, Vizcaíno, Cholo Simeone… We had a good preseason and in the first game we beat Valladolid 6-0. Vizcaíno was wounded. I looked at the lower categories. Caminero and Simeone were also injured. One day the president, Jesús Gil, called me and told me to ‘Get the players fired’. That’s what he told me. The structure started to crumble, we started losing and, as usual, they fired me.

How about Jesus Gil?

Jesús Gil had a moment that brought me a player, ‘Tren’ Valencia. He told me that it was his responsibility, that he brought him because he believed he could play there.

You managed teams that played only Colombian football players, a philosophy similar to that of Athletic. How do you see this way of competing?

That is why I said at the beginning that there is a certain harmony in my way of making this path. I saw this with pride and joy because it made sense. This philosophy made sense to the point where I adopted it, made it work, and helped me grow as a coach. There are some cultures that do not have the death penalty, the maximum punishment being exile. Everyone looked at each other in their place, it is happiness, that your neighborhood is recognized and respected. When you messed up, they kicked you out of the country, exiled. This is the worst.