“It's one of the two or three best in Colombia”: Edison Mafla, on Freddy Rincón

On Saturday, about 1,000 and several national football idols attended the Pascual Guerrero Stadium in Cali to say goodbye to Freddy Rincón, who died last Wednesday night, April 13, after having suffered a severe traffic accident in the early hours of Monday.

The farewell took place after a busy accompaniment at the Los Olivos funeral home in the capital of Valle del Cauca, before the coffin was moved to the stadium, along with several of the main figures in Colombian football, such as Tino Asprilla, Luis Carlos Perea, Adolfo Valencia, Victor Aristizábal, Francisco Maturana, Edison Mafla, Harold Lozano, Juan Carlos Osorio, Francisco Maturana, Pablo Armero, Oscar Cordoba, among others.

In addition to the aforementioned footballers, the ceremony was attended by Edison Mafla, who shared minutes with Freddy Rincón in the Colombian national team, and, in an interview with the Diario AS, he spoke about the former Independiente Santa Fe footballer.

Florida-born flywheel Valle del Cauca, who also went through the cardinal team, said that Rincón is among the top three Colombian footballers in history: “He is among one of the two or three best in Colombia. For their capacity, their dedication, their displacement, their strength.”

When Mafla wore the Cali shirt, she faced Freddy Rincón on several occasions when the 'Colossus', who wore that of America. About this he explained: “I had to suffer it when I was playing for Deportivo Cali, in a final I didn't have the chance to be in, he scored a goal for Rayo (Jorge) who is close there and puts an impressive bullet in him. Also another one who plays a taco, I remember that. The matches in Barranquilla that I had the fortune to be with them, to share with the majority who are here today dismissing him”.

To conclude, he confessed that: “After retiring I spent a lot of time with him in the exhibition matches. A very nice person, many people because they saw his physique were sometimes intimidated, but when they met him they realized that he was not like that, but a spontaneous person with many values”.

“They can't imagine how Freddy got to Santa Fe. With simplicity and humility. Then he transformed everything: I haven't had a player who has Rincon's work routine. When he arrived, he didn't even have guayos. There hasn't been a player like Freddy Rincón,” said one of Roncón's mentors, Jorge Luis Pinto, tearfully.

Francisco Maturana added that “from Spain they say that Freddy Rincón is a national and world heritage. May we never forget who Freddy Rincón is.”

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