Authorities said Andres Escobar was shot 12 times by a group of men who blamed him Colombia's failure to advance in the World Cup. (Reuters File Photo)

The 27-year-old Escobar, admired by many Colombians for the way he handled a player's worst nightmare, was shot 12 times by a group of men who confronted him at 3:30 a.m. outside a nightclub here in Medellin, 150 miles northwest of Bogota. Police said the men blamed Escobar for the soccer team's ouster from World Cup competition in the first round, at one point yelling about his "own goal."

Authorities said they were not ruling out the possibility that the slaying was linked to death threats made against the team, widely believed here to have come from members of powerful drug cartels angry at having lost millions of dollars in bets placed on the team's expected success. Colombia was ousted after losses to Romania and the United States.

[At Saturday's second-round World Cup matches at RFK Stadium in Washington and at Chicago's Soldier Field, players and fans observed a moment of silence for Escobar.

["This is the saddest day I have ever witnessed in football, in a World Cup or any other competition," said Sepp Blatter, general secretary of world soccer's governing body. "If something happens by accident, you can say it was the will of God. But when people deliberately shoot and kill somebody because he made a mistake in the game, something is wrong.

["The popularity of our game has two faces. The first face produces joy and enthusiasm and brings people together as we have witnessed at the World Cup here. And on the other face, the game mirrors our life. It has violence, tears, corruption... ."]

In Colombia, where drug-related violence has claimed the lives of thousands — including presidential aspirants, judges and journalists — the execution of a hard-luck soccer player sparked profound anguish among many of his countrymen. Although no direct link to the cartels has been established, many Colombians assumed that those who were bent on avenging the soccer team's embarrassing exit from the international soccer event had found their mark.

"It is incredible that this has now reached the level of the athletes," the mayor of Medellin, Luis Ramos Botero, said in an interview with Caracol Radio. President Cesar Gaviria said the killing "causes Colombia to mourn and fills us with pain."

The killing comes as many Colombians and some U.S. law enforcement officials worry about a resurgence in the drug-related violence that had diminished recently.

Tonight, thousands of fans lined up at one of the principal stadiums to view Escobar's body. Some wept as they stood in front of a black lacquer coffin, obscured by dozens of floral arrangements. Fans crowded into the bleachers, yelling "Andres lives" and "Justice, Justice." Relatives and close friends wept together as police stood guard.

"The people are here out of solidarity," Rev. Nicolas Gaviria, a relative of Escobar, said of the thousands who waited patiently for a chance to stand by the flag-draped coffin. "They are comforting the family and the country. He was a soldier of the country on the field of sport."

Outside the stadium, 24-year-old Marta Vanegas stood in the somber crowd, and cried. She had waited several hours to see the body of the player she had followed since he turned professional in the late 1980s. "We loved him so much, and it's hit us hard," she said, her voice breaking. "What does it mean? Killing him for this?" she asked. "I don't know what those people were thinking."

There are indications that remnants of the Medellin cartel — whose members are widely believed here to have bet heavily on the soccer team — are grouping with other drug organizations and planning an assault against the Cali cartel, recognized as the world's most powerful cocaine traffickers.

It is unclear whether Escobar, one of several players threatened by name, was under police protection after his arrival in Medellin. Since the anonymous death threats first were made public following Colombia's loss to Romania in Los Angeles, security around the players was increased. When most of the team arrived here Wednesday, security was tight and there were reports that players and coaches would remain under guard.

	In Medellin, thousands prayed as they lined up for Escobar's funeral. (Jose Gomez/Reuters)

Colombia's soccer team, with its precision and speed, was one of the favorites in the World Cup and considered a potentially profitable bet on the international wagering circuit. It was the best team Colombia had fielded, and after its 5-0 win over soccer powerhouse Argentina qualified it for the World Cup, the delirium on the streets of Bogota left almost 100 people dead.

After the 2-1 loss to the United States, some prominent sportscasters blamed players and coaches and demanded changes. The criticism grew so heated that one columnist, writing in El Tiempo, said sportscasters should be blamed if violence against the players resulted.

Explanations of what went wrong ranged from the metaphysical to conspiratorial — the players had either lost their souls in the glare of the spotlight, or they had been co-opted by the drug netherworld. And now, in the wake of Escobar's killing, fans who had not gotten over grief for their sport found themselves struggling to express grief of a different sort.

"What can any Colombian say?" asked Ivan Dario Mesa, 38, of Bogota. "Before the world, I am ashamed. It is illogical that in a civilized country this can happen."

"In the history of the world, this has no comparison," said Kabir Saibis, 38, a Colombian agronomist and businessman whose parents emigrated from Libya. "We had gotten too used to success," he said of the team, "and we have not been able to deal with the loss."

Mesa said the killing of Escobar was ironic. Although he suffered the own goal — a sporting disaster that immediately became a metaphor for all kinds of national calamities — Escobar was one of the few who had played to his potential, shining even off the field, Mesa said.

After the team was eliminated, Escobar apologized for his performance, a gesture that won him many admirers. A professional player since he was 19, he was a member of Atletico Nacional in Medellin.

Unlike some of his flamboyant teammates, in particular Carlos "Pibe" Valderrama, Escobar was not a poster boy. While fans focused adulation on others, he earned a reputation as an excellent defenseman and as a player who would always speak to reporters, regardless of the game's outcome.

"Aside from being a great player, he was a great person," Fabio Leon Arango, a soccer statistician, said on Caracol Radio.

The infamous own goal occurred when Escobar tried to block a shot that was crossing the front of the goal. Soccer aficionados said there was little he could have done to prevent the score, but it was that play that apparently earned him a place on the death list, alongside his coach and several players who did not perform to potential.

"The guy, in the end, was one of the best players," said Mesa.