As a football loving kid, growing up, you must have heard the term "escobar" being used repeatedly whenever someone scored an own goal. It turns out the term is related with the late Colombian Central Defender, Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga, who scored an own goal that ultimately proved fatal in his team's second group stage match versus USA at the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

"Stretching to cut out a pass from American midfielder John Harkes, Escobar mistimed the slide and inadvertently deflected the ball into his own net. The United States won the game, 2–1" ensuring the team couldn't qualify for the knockout stages.

Five days after Colombia's elimination (2nd of July 1994), Escobar decided to visit his country, rather than meet with his family in Las Vegas. He called his friends for a night out at a bar in the El Poblado neighborhood in Medellín.

It was approximately 3:00 am, after everyone had split up, that Escobar got into his car, alone, in the parking lot of the El Indio Nightclub when three men showed up and began arguing with him. Two of the men had a handgun and Andres Escobar was shot six times.
It is reported that one of Escobar's killers shouted goal after each shot, one for each time the Colombian commentator said it during the broadcast.

Escobar was rushed to the hospital where he died 45 minutes later at the age of 27.

His funeral was attended by more than 120,000 people and every year, people honored him by bringing his photographs to matches. In July 2002, the city of Medellín unveiled a statue in honor of his memory.

Reference:
Wikipedia

May we please observe a moment of silence for this great man.

Escobar great name

So sad


Aiyegbeni is fortunate to be a Nigerian then