Carlos Valderrama

I say the Bobby Charlton, you know exactly what I mean.

The Valderrama, you know what that is.

Wiggy.

Yeah, the Bobby Charlton, yeah.

He would get down to the end, he would cut inside, he could dribble, he could pass.

I'm telling you, like, Eric Quill's career was cut short by injuries, but that dude played with Valderrama in Tam- in Tampa.

He's a really talented player, you know.

Uh, people, most people aren't old enough to remember the guy, but that's who he reminded me of in my, in the one 20-minute run out, now mind you, was more of that than, than even Castillo, 'cause Castillo was, like, bouncing off of walls and the ball's kinda flying everywhere.

What added to the problem in lots of ways was the fact of how many former footballers came out on Dele Espriella's side.

So Valderrama, for example, everyone's favourite yellow Afro player, came out on Dele Esprit's side.

So did Teofilo Gutierrez, who some people might remember from the 2014 World Cup.

And quite a few other footballers.

... then, then they had, um, uh, a German goalkeeper on another one.

They had, um, Carlos Valderrama, um, for the sort of South American release.

Um, but I always remember thinking-

[laughs]

You know, my first World Cup was Mexico 86 that I remember watching and that was all about England and then it was all about Diego Maradona and Argentina um and then I watched uh Italian 90 was my second world cup and that was I got to watch both you know I got to watch uh the first kind of really great Colombian side um and then also England with a with a really good side and a deep run in the tournament so that was a fantastic tournament for me I was uh 10 going on 11 I think for that tournament um And that was just amazing.

So I think the first player on your list is, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the first player on your list is Carlos Valderrama, right?

That's right.

El Pibe, Carlos Valderrama.

Let me just read from what I've got, because obviously you've got more knowledge than me.

But what I do have in front of me is a Wikipedia page and I'm an absolute Wikipedia nut.

And then El Mexicano was involved in Millonarios in Bogotá.

And then in Cali, the Cali cartel were bankrolling America de Cali.

She'd fill Croke Park again just so people could see her do that.

Do you remember that? There was a guy, what's his name? His name wasn't Valderrama.

No, it was, I can't remember his name.

He was a Mexican goalkeeper.

He was the star player at the time.

They had Carlos Valderrama, who everyone will remember, but he didn't really do a lot, to be honest.

He was...

He didn't play in the first leg and then he played in the second leg, but he was ineffective.

Oh, yeah.

Just shaving the sides of my head like Carlos Valderrama, dying it gold.

Look at that guy.

I was the coolest kid in school.

However, as we would see, they would hold their own and come away with a draw at Old Trafford.

And they did have quality players like, in fact, future Manchester United player Laurent Blanc, as well as the Colombian Carlos Valderrama, among others.

And in the end, Manchester United managed to qualify after the mistake of the Montpellier goalkeeper Claude Barbet.

Was this unfamiliarity of foreign sides and leagues also a symptom of the football of the time and the lack of proper intensive scouting in contrast to today?

You might be able to watch VHS back then.

And you might know some of the star players.

So everyone will have known Carlos Valderrama because of the Italia 90 World Cup.

But yeah, you've got a lot of unknowns there.