América de Cali
Encyclopedia : A : AM : AMR : América de Cali
Corporación Deportiva América, commonly known as América de Cali, is a Colombian football team, based in Cali. The club was founded in 1927. América is widely recognized as one of the most notable and traditional clubs in Colombian soccer history, being the club to have won the second largest number of Mustang Cups (The Colombian First Division). It is considered to be one of the South American soccer powerhouses, because of its international appearances and its worldwide famous players. America has the biggest following of all the soccer teams in Colombia. They sell out stadiums everywhere they go. Most notably, when they play in Bogotá where they actually bring more fans to the local stadium than the local teams. America is also known as "La Mechita Roja," Literally meaning the red spark, because their explosive attacks and fast paced soccer. America is recognized as having produced Colombia's top players and they are constantly being exported to leagues across the world. Most of the famous Colombian players that now triumph across the world of soccer and the Colombian national team, were made famous while playing for this institution. However, the past few years have shown a deterioration of the talent that once ranked it among the world's best.
History
The Beginning Years
América the Cali was founded on February 13 1927 in one of the popular parts of Santiago de Cali, then an economically emerging city in the Colombian. After being expelled inexplicably from the regional tournament, América decides to tour the country in order to continue playing the sport, thus becoming the first Colombian team to play around the country. On February 16 1948, América officially becomes the first professional Colombian soccer team, and had a large part in creating the first Colombian professional soccer tournament that took place that year, giving the first star(A recognision of winnig the tournament) to Independiente Santa Fe.The First Championships
América got off to a slow start in the Colombian tournament, not achieving even the runner-up position until 1960 and not playing its first Copa Libertadores until 1969. However, the team went through a radical change in 1979, hiring Gabriel Ochoa Uribe as its manager and obtaining an important amount of funding from the Cali Cartel. During the 12 years Gabriel Ochoa Uribe worked as manager of the club, América obtained its first seven Mustang Cup's and rapidly created an immense diversity of fans that cheered it around the country. During these years, América finished second place in the Copa Libertadores consecutively from 1985-1987.1990's
After Gabriel Ochoa Uribe left the insitituion in 1991, many feared that the winning streak for the 'Red Devils' was over. But in 1992, under the direction of coach Francisco Maturana, América obtained its eighth star and appeared to continue its winning streak, although it would be five years until the next championship was won. In 1996, after qualifying again for the Copa Libertadors, América faced River Plate in the final, losing famously on an Oscar Córdoba error.2000's and Clinton List
Despite having won the Colombian League three more times from 2000-2002, América has entered the millennium in economic hardship and unable to prove the team that astonished the world in the 1980's. In 1995, Corporación Deportiva América was placed under watch by Executive Order 12798, commonly known in Colombia as the Clinton List. Because of its past connections with drug cartels, the United States froze the team's assets in the U.S. (valued around $1 Million), and ordered other companies not to conduct direct business with América. Since then, América's economic crisis has been severe. Currently immersed in nearly $2 million dollars woth of debt, América has survived four years without a direct sponsor and only receiving money through minimum attendance at the Pascual Guerrero and the selling of soccer jerseys. The monthly salaries of its players do not exceed $3000 dollars, and América has seen itself forced to make money by selling its most recognized players. However, despite its troubling economic situation, América has mantained a very respectable level of play and still holds a strong tradition as a historical team, arguably considered the team with most fans around the country. In the present season, América has been unable to climb into the top of the table, having sold most of its top players and, according to President Carlos Puente, having the least expensive roster of the last years. América de Cali hopes of reaching the Play-offs for the Copa Mustang in 2006 were crushed when on May 21 ,2006 they suffered one of the worst defeats against Atlético Nacional. By the second half ,they were losing 3-0 and had only 9 players playing due to two red cards. In minute 82 to minute 86 ,3 more goals would follow and Atlético Nacional clipped América de Cali 6-0 which resulted América de Cali in 10th place with 27 points and out of the finalsHonors
- Mustang Cup
- : 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002-Apertura
Current squad
As of February 1, 2006| width="1%" | |bgcolor="#FFFFFF" valign="top" width="48%"| |}
External link
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.