This was Freddy Rincón's historic goal in the World Cup in Italy 90

Football framed certain moments in history that have enormous sentimental value at a time when reality surpassed fantasy. This was what happened in that 1990 World Cup in Italy, when the Colombian National Team not only returned to the tournament after 28 years, but was going to have a historic result against one of the best teams in history. Freddy Rincón, in charge of making the anthological goal.

In the 1990 World Cup Qualifiers, the Colombia National Team placed in group 2 alongside Paraguay and Ecuador, scored five points, the product of two wins and one draw. La Tricolor won 2-0 over Ecuador, 2-1 over Paraguay and scoreless draw with Ecuador. This allowed him to finish fifth in the standings, so he had to go to play the repechage against Israel. The first leg in Barranquilla ended with a 1-0 in favor of 'Palomo' Usuriaga, while in Ramat Gan the match was scoreless. Colombia returned to the World Cup.

A new era in the Colombia National Team began, thanks to the emergence of new talents such as the chaos of René Higuita, Andrés Escobar, Leonel Álvarez, Arnoldo Iguarán, Carlos 'El Pibe' Valderrama and Freddy Rincón, all led by coach Francisco Maturana. It was in this way that this group achieved the unthinkable and led the Tricolor to play the most important tournament of national teams in Italy. This team had already given some brushstrokes of talent in the 1987 Copa América, coming in third place over Argentina and Brazil.

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The Colombia National Team was located in pot three and on December 9, 1989 it met its rivals in the first phase of the World Cup contest. United Arab Emirates, Yogoslavia and the favorite in the title, the Federal German national team that had high quality players such as Jürgen Klinsmann, Rudi Völler, Guido Buchwald, Lothar Matthäus, among others.

The Tricolor started its participation in the World Cup on the right foot by beating the United Arab Emirates national team 0-2 at the Renado Dall'Ara stadium. The Maturana team won with goals from Bernardo Redin at 50′ and Carlos 'El Pibe' Valderrama at 85′. On the other hand Germany beat Yugoslavia 4-1. A triumph that filled the team led by Franz Beckenbauer with confidence.

On the second date Colombia fell due to the slightest difference against Yugoslavia in the Renato Dall'Ara with a goal of Jozic at 75′. A defeat that was a real blow to the Maturana team that hoped to have a point advantage before facing Germany, which for its part thrashed the United Arab Emirates 5-1. Beckenbauer's team came strong, nine goals in two matches and only two goals conceded, the challenge that the Tricolor had was not easy.

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On June 19, 1990, the Giuseppe Meazza stadium in the city of Milan became the perfect setting for one of the greatest events in the history of Colombian football. The Tricolor, which had just been hit by Yugoslavia, had in front of possibly the toughest rival in the entire group stage. Beckenbauer's team, already qualified for the next round, wanted to maintain the string of victories, so they saved nothing for the match against the Colombians. Maturana, for her part, bet on a fast team, but that took great care in defense.

René Higuita; Andrés Escobar, Gildardo Gomez, Luis Herrera, Luis Carlos Perea; Gabriel Gomez, Carlos Valderrama (C), Leonel Alvarez, Luis Fajardo, Carlos Estrada and Freddy Rincón, were the team chosen by coach Maturana for the most important game of his coaching career to date. Beckenbauer played with Illgner; Reuter, Augenthaler, Buchwald, Berthold, Peluegler; Haessler, Matthaeus, Bein; Voeller and Klinsmann.

The match began and from the first minutes Colombia began to impose its style of play, however, Germany, by recovering the ball, tried to hurt by the air game. A close match in which the two teams proposed offensive play. The Tricolor was playing 'you to you' on Beckenbauer's National Team. The match went to halftime with a goalless draw on the scoreboard. There were 45 minutes left for all or nothing at the Giuseppe Meazza.

In the second half Germany was stronger, however, Colombia's quick touches and well-executed transitions between defenders and attackers allowed them to reach the last meters to unsettle the goal of the rival goalkeeper. With only a few minutes left, it seemed that the match would end in a draw. An individual play by Voeller that left several Colombian players on the road, ended in a leaked pass for Pierre Littbarski who beat Higuita with a powerful shot. Germany was ahead on the scoreboard a few minutes before the end.

As if it were a movie, a minute later a play that began with Leonel Álvarez ended an almost perfect triangulation of the Colombian National Team, with Valderrama's pass into space to Freddy Rincón who finished under the legs of goalkeeper Illgner and scored the draw. An unexpected goal, a dream goal, a historic goal. The Buenaventura player scored one of the most important scores in the history of the Colombian National Team.

Fists in the air, a cry of emotion and an image that went around the world. Freddy Rincón's goal not only meant a draw against one of the best teams in history, it also allowed the Colombians to dream big. That day things changed for the Tricolor, which grew up before the greats and achieved the unthinkable. If Rincon scored him 90′ against Germany, anything is possible. The goal against Germany was “the best goal of my career,” said Rincón.

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