MOSCOW _ Four years ago, as Colombia prepared for its first World Cup in 16 years, Radamel Falcao struggled to get right.
An ACL injury had sidelined him for nearly six months but Falcao waited until the week before the tournament to admit he wouldn't be able to play. His sadness soon turned to envy as he watched an unheralded 22-year-old teammate named James Rodriguez lead Colombia into the quarterfinals unbeaten.
This summer both Rodriguez and Colombia could be even better thanks to Falcao, the country's all-time scoring leader, who will finally make his World Cup debut at 32.
"The story's different now," he told reporters before leaving for Russia. "I'm making the most of every moment with my teammates, getting us ready for this World Cup that we're very excited about."
Brazil was Rodriguez's coming-out party. He finished as the tournament's leading scorer with six goals in five games, so he won't catch anyone by surprise this summer. Nor will Falcao, who was nominated for the 2017 Ballon d'Or _ awarded to the world's top player _ and who has scored 51 goals in all competitions the last two seasons for Monaco of France's Ligue 1.
Together they've written a new chapter in Colombian soccer history, one they'd like to conclude with a celebratory ending in Russia.
The country enjoyed a golden era of soccer in the 1990s, when its national team qualified for three consecutive World Cups, reached the quarterfinals of the Copa America five times and was ranked fourth in the world by FIFA _ dominance aided in part by the largesse of Colombia's soccer-loving drug cartels.
But the cartel leaders also wagered heavily on their team and that proved a problem when Colombia stumbled in the 1994 World Cup, exiting in the group stage after defender Andres Escobar's own goal proved the difference in a loss to the United States.
Shortly after Escobar returned to Colombia, he was ambushed in the parking lot of a Medellin bar by three gunmen who shot him six times _ with one taunting the player by shouting "gooooal" as Escobar writhed on the pavement. The killers were under orders from a drug trafficker who had invested heavily in Colombia soccer, then was embarrassed to see the team lose in the World Cup.
Escobar's slaying marked a turning point in Colombia. More than 120,000 mourners attended his funeral, a statue was dedicated to him in his hometown of Medellin and his family founded a soccer program, in his memory, for disadvantaged youth.
More important, however, was the fact the tragedy marked the beginning of the end of the link between the cartels and Colombian soccer and the enormous pressure that came with the connection. It led, however, to a long and difficult transition.
Colombia failed to qualify for three consecutive World Cup tournaments, failed to advance beyond the group stage of the Copa America in 2007 _ the first time that had happened in nearly two decades _ and fell as far as 49th in the world rankings before a new generation led by Falcao, defender Cristian Zapata, midfielder Carlos Sanchez and goalkeeper David Ospina kick-started a resurgence.
That mix began to jell in 2012 when a former taxi driver named Jose Pekerman was hired as coach. The 68-year-old Argentine comes to Russia this summer as the second longest-serving coach of any major South American national team.
"Without a doubt Pekerman's arrival turned things around," Falcao, quoted by Agence France-Presse, said of the coach.
"He tried to give us the necessary belief to go out there with freedom and play the kind of football that we're used to."
He might have Colombia peaking at the right time. The team heads into next week's opener in Russia unbeaten against World Cup teams this year, including a 3-2 win over France, a tournament favorite.
For Colombia to succeed, however, Pekerman will need to get Rodriguez and Falcao on the same page because for all they share, they appear to lack chemistry. They are two of the top scorers in South America yet Colombia scored only 21 goals in 18 World Cup qualifiers as the team placed fourth in the tournament, squeezing out a trip to Russia by one point.
Brazil, which won the CONEMBOL event, had nearly twice as many goals. And Colombia had to rely on Ospina to pitch shutouts in its last two World Cup tune-ups to earn scoreless draws.
To advance in Russia, Colombia will have to become the team it was four years ago when it scored 12 times in five matches in Brazil. Pekerman, who took Argentina to the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup, appears unconcerned.
"My team," he said this spring, "has the character of a World Cup side."
