Stories from the '94 World Cup at the Rose Bowl, the Los Angeles stadium where River Plate will play for a place in the round of 16.

Diego Armando Maradona had already had his legs cut off on Sunday, July 3, 1994, when Argentina arrived at the Rose Bowl stadium in Los Angeles to face Romania in the round of 16. The national team, led by Alfio Basile, arrived at that match battered by the doping of its great star and tired from the trip from the East to the West coast, crossing the United States, after having surprisingly finished third in its group after a 2-0 defeat to Bulgaria in the last match of the group stage, after beating Greece 4-0 and Nigeria 2-1.

In that scenario, in which 31 years later River will play Rayados de Monterrey for the second day of the Club World Cup, Argentina fell 3-2 (goals by Gabriel Batistuta , from a penalty, and Abel Balbo ) to Romania and was quickly eliminated from that '94 event in the United States that had it as one of the main candidate teams to take the World Cup despite having entered from the play-off after overcoming Australia months before, at the end of '93, in a distressing manner, with whom it tied 1-1 in Sydney and beat it 1-0 in Australia.

But the Dream Team that Coco had assembled was listed on the stock market, with a superb attack comprised of Maradona, Balbo, Claudio Caniggia, and Batistuta . And behind them, sharing the responsibility of recovering the ball in the middle of the field, were Diego Simeone and Fernando Redondo .

On that hot Los Angeles afternoon, when Maradona watched the match from the press area and participated in the Channel 13 broadcast, with Marcelo Araujo providing commentary and Enrique Macaya Márquez and Adrián Paenza providing commentary, Ariel Ortega played for the first time as a starter in a World Cup wearing the Argentine jersey.

El Burrito , with his rebelliousness and audacity, tried, at just 20 years old, to take on Diego's role on the pitch and he did it all, but it wasn't enough to get the national team through to the next round. An inspired Romania, led by Gheorghe Hagi , defeated them 3-2 and finally brought them down. Unbeknownst to them, they also marked the end of the Maradona era with the national team, which had already begun to end a few days earlier when Diego was carried off the pitch by the nurse who had taken him to the doping test after Argentina's 2-1 victory over Nigeria.

That was the last smiling image of the Villa Fiorito star with the Argentine jersey on his chest. A couple of weeks later, he watched resignedly from the stands at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles as Romania put an end to the national team's victory in the World Cup in the United States.

It wasn't the only event that took place at the Rose Bowl in that competition whose impact lasted a long time. On Sunday, July 17, the final was played between Brazil and Italy , who met again to decide the Cup 24 years after Pelé and company danced around the Azzurri and thrashed them 4-1 at the Azteca in Mexico in 1970.

The other final, in 1994, lacked football. The highlight was a shot by Brazilian Mauro Silv that hit the post of Italy's goal, which was then kissed by Gianluca Pagliuca , the Nazionale goalkeeper, who had let the ball slip away. And after 120 sleepy minutes, the winner was decided on penalties. Brazil were the most accurate from the penalty spot, returning to glory after two decades and four years, led by Carlos Parreira and Mario Lobo Zagallo on the bench, and with the lethal duo of Bebeto and Romario in attack.

That penalty shootout may have been forgotten in time, but not for a player of such exquisite skill. Roberto Baggio carried the shot that deflected over the crossbar like a cross for a long time, undergoing extensive therapy and even making a movie (called Roberto Baggio, the Divine) to try to heal the wound. The distinguished Italian number 10 said he had many nightmares about that missed penalty, and in his dreams, he would see the image of himself kicking it again and again.

He couldn't fulfill his dream of becoming a world champion in a World Cup that was special to him, where, through sheer willpower, his playing talent, and internal arguments, he twisted the hand of Arrigo Sacchi, the Italian national team coach, who had left him on the bench. But he also personally sought to give his father that joy after what he had suffered in the '70 final. And in his film, it's told that, as he grew up, his father told him that Robi Baggio, as a child, promised him that he would be a footballer and win the World Cup for him.

However, after a long time, and with Baggio already retired, he admitted that there was never any dialogue because Roberto was very young in '70 and had even fallen asleep in the middle of the match. He had used that precept to fuel him through the difficult moments of his footballing journey, from the lower divisions to becoming a star in the Calcio.

Another event that happened at the Rose Bowl during that World Cup and that will go down in history due to the subsequent consequences was the own goal scored there by Andrés Escobar, a Colombian defender, in his team's 2-1 defeat to the United States on June 22, 1994. That football "sin" would prove fatal, as he was murdered in Medellín a few days later.

Colombia had arrived as a candidate for the North American nation thanks to the football played by Pacho Maturana's team, which had reached its climax at the Monumental on September 5, 1993, when it thrashed Argentina 5-0 in the South American Qualifiers. However, in the World Cup, it suffered a major defeat and was quickly eliminated. It lost 3-1 to Romania in its debut, then lost to the home team, and a 2-0 win over Switzerland in the third match was not enough to reach the round of 16.

"When I saw the ball go in, I thought that my mistake was going to kill us," Escobar said in a post-match press conference, uttering an almost premonitory phrase.

Escobar had planned a family getaway, but he wanted to show his face and returned with the delegation to his country. Still distressed by what happened at the World Cup, on the night of Saturday, July 2—ten days after the goal against them—his girlfriend, Pamela Cascardo , and some friends convinced him to go out and relax in his hometown, Medellín.

They decided to go to the El Indio nightclub on Las Palmas Street. From a nearby table, some people began to harass the footballer, who decided to go and ask them to leave him alone. The ones verbally attacking him were the Gallón Henao brothers , two major drug bosses at the time who had lost a lot of money betting on Colombia's defeat and were reproaching the player for his own goal.

As they continued to heckle him, Escobar decided it was best to leave. When he got to his car, he was approached by the drug traffickers' driver, Humberto Muñoz, who shot him six times, shouting "golazo" with each shot, which ended his life almost instantly. Andrés was 27 years old.

In Colombia, at that time, and specifically in Medellín, the streets were still taken over by drug trafficking, even though Pablo Escobar , the fearsome head of that city's cartel, had been killed on December 2, 1993.

These are stories left behind by the Rose Bowl in the '94 World Cup, and this Club World Cup promises to leave new memories ahead. River hopes they will be happy tales. There, they will play a key match for their future in this competition.