From a tight group, it would eventually turn out so that Colombia came through as winners. They had looked to be in severe trouble when they had failed to get more than three points from their first three matches, while Paraguay had won both of their two (home) matches prior to the two nations’ second meeting: The 17 September meeting between the pair in Barranquilla would mean more or less everything, at least to the Colombians. 

After a mediocre Copa América campaign, the Colombians were still naturally touted as one of two favourites to win the group and progress through to the intercontinental play-off double-header against Oceania (!) winners Israel. The latter had waited for a few months already to find out whom they would play off against for the right to represent at Italia ’90. 

Despite their failure to progress beyond the first group stage at the Copa, Francisco Maturana remained faithful to a majority of the players whom he had brought to Brazil. Only five of the 20 strong party which had travelled to the continental championships would remain unselected for either of the four qualification matchday squads. 

The Colombians started in a fairly impressive manner, when they dealt with Ecuador swiftly in a 2-0 home win. 32 year old striker Arnoldo Iguarán stole the headlines with his two exceptionally well-taken headers, but there had been sound performances right through the team, and their version of the 4-4-2 formation (“4-2-2-2”) had worked a treat. They had looked solid and compact defensively against a not all too daring opponent, and looked the part attack-wise, and certainly through Iguarán. 

They next travelled to Asunción to face the other side which were seen as possible Group 2 winners: Paraguay had given a fine account of themselves in the Copa tournament, where they had advanced to the second group stage. And in a fiery encounter, a number of players were booked, in addition to Colombia’s defensive midfield man Leonel Álvarez getting himself sent off for an altercation with the strong Nunes. The visitors had been the weaker team for large portions of the game, but had nicked a late leveller through that man Iguarán. It had seemed to earn them a precious point, but in injury time colourful goalkeeper René Higuita was to blame for conceding a needless penalty, and after massive protesting from the visiting players, something which brought the riot police on to the pitch and halted proceedings for a good five minutes, Higuita let in the penalty from opposing number 1 Chilavert. 

They could restore the impression when travelling to Guayaquil to play Ecuador, but in a match where there were several opportunities both ways, most of them for the visitors, neither team managed to break the deadlock, and the 0-0 scoreline had been something of a disappointing outcome for the Colombians. Paraguay would then go on and beat Ecuador at home the following week, and so Colombia’s three points tally from three matches was far inferior to Paraguay’s haul of four points from two. 

Possible World Cup participation hinged on the visit of the Paraguayans in Barranquilla. Having missed influental players such as Álvarez and Bernardo Redín in Ecuador, both out through suspension, Maturana restored them both to the team, and he’d even break up that ‘4-2-2-2’ impression by moving one of the two holding midfielders, Gabriel Gómez, who had filled in for Álvarez last time out, into a position between the holding man (now Álvarez alone) and the two attacking midfield men.

They’d been slightly the better side for possession first half, but Colombia found themselves a goal down courtesy of conceding late to a wonder strike. This brought about some half-time tinkering from Maturana, who gave that 4-3-3 formation which he’d given a brief glimpse of during the loss in Asunción some further airtime: Albeiro Usuriaga came on to join Rubén Hernández and Iguarán up top. At the same time, he took off the massively disappointing Valderrama, his captain, and replaced him with Luis Fajardo, a key player at continental club champions Atlético Nacional of Medellín. Iguarán took over the captain’s role, and notched the equalizer for his fourth of the campaign. Both substitutes excelled, and both played an active role in Hernández’ goal, which turned out to be the winner. 

The result took Colombia to the top of the pool, but they knew that if Paraguay went on to win their fixture in Ecuador the subsequent Sunday, it would be they and not the Colombians who would face off against the Israelians. The wait must have been so agonising for staff, players and fans alike. However, the following weekend, Ecuador came from behind to win 3-1, and thus aid Colombia in their battle for finishing top of the pile. 

Final position: 1 (out of 3 – qualified for intercontinental play-off)
Total record: 4 2 1 1 5-3 5
Home record: 2 2 0 0 4-1 4
Away record: 2 0 1 1 1-2 1

Final phase

The Colombians only needed to wait another month to commence the intercontinental play-offs, with the home leg against Israel being played out first. Their opponents, on the other hand, had been waiting for six months to get the final ‘show’ started. This would immediately appear an advantage to the Latin Americans, though perhaps this was muted slightly by the fact that they would need to travel away for the final of the two legs. 

With no changes in their matchday squad, Colombia went about their home leg optimistically. They had looked a tad nervous initially, but once they’d gained control of those jitters, they would go on to be by far the better side. Defensively, they would not allow the visitors much, and so they did not suffer against the potential pace of the Israeli attack, where Rosenthal had looked so threatening on the break during their group stage matches. 

A more attacking 4-1-1-2-2 formation saw the hosts still struggle to create chances, and Israel proved a very disciplined side with how they elected to sit back and have the hosts come at them. Goalless at the break saw Maturana once again retort to his favourite plan B: the 4-3-3 alternative. He took midfielder Redín, who had tested Ginzburg with a first half shot from distance, off, and replaced him with the lanky, pacy Usuriaga. This once again saw the Colombians with a wide player either side of Iguarán, and it would be the substitute who would get the solitary goal of the game, as he ran on to Fajardo’s delicate throughball. 

A 1-0 lead from the first leg did seem slender, but the Colombians knew that they, too, had plenty of defensive security. However, they must have been disappointed to learn that they would have to cope without influental centre-back Perea for the return-leg, and so having to pair libero Escobar with a new defender in Mendoza, who came in and performed like he’d done nothing but play alongside Escobar all his career. 

Capitalizing on what was probably a level of nervousness in the home side during the first half in Tel Aviv, the Colombians enjoyed the majority of the possession. It was a game of very few goalscoring opportunities, but that would’ve suited the South Americans very well. Seeing the return of holding midfield man (Ricardo) Pérez alongside the strong Álvarez added another dimension to their defensive security, and the playful trio of more advanced midfielders in Redín, Valderrama and Fajardo made sure to keep the hosts occupied. 

Colombia did concede a greater level of possession after the break, as the hosts piled on the pressure, desperate in their search for the goal which would take the game to extra time. However, they would not come closer than Rosenthal’s early second half effort straight at Higuita from close range. Usuriaga had again come on for the final 45, and again he proved a threat, striking the post with a late effort from inside the box. 

Despite everything the hosts had thrown at them, the Colombians had stood tall, and over the two legs, they had probably just about shaded it. And so, they were through to Italia ’90, bringing some wonderful scenes of jubilation upon the full-time whistle.