Colombian soccer is in mourning after the death of Pedro Sarmiento, a renowned former soccer player and coach who marked the history of several teams, especially in Cali and Medellín. There are few who can say that they enjoy the affection of the fans of América de Cali, Atlético Nacional, Deportivo Cali and Independiente Medellín regardless of the rivalry that exists between them. As a player, Sarmiento was champion twice defending the colors of the purslane team. The first was in 1976 and the second, five years later, in 1981.
But his award-winning career did not stop when he decided to retire as a professional. In the nineties he began to make his first steps as a coach, and the great explosion in this new role came after the turn of the century, when he was champion with Independiente Medellín in that remembered Paisa final against Atlético Nacional at the Atanasio Girardot.
In the first leg, the powerful team won 2-1 with goals from Jorge Horacio Serna and Rafael Castillo. With the slightest advantage in the series, Sarmiento played a tactically perfect match in the second leg, leaving the score tied without goals and winning the only final that has been played in the history of the Antioquia classic. The following year, he took the reins of Deportivo Cali and once again embroidered a star on the shield, reaching six local titles in total, counting what was done on and off the field of play.
Hence, the majority of clubs in the country, even those with which he was rival on countless occasions, have dedicated messages to him after his death was confirmed in the city of Medellín. The last team he went through was Once Caldas, where he laid the foundations for the project that is now bearing fruit under the orders of one of his great friends, Hernán Darío Herrera.
Unfortunately, a serious illness changed his plans and forced him to separate from the profession that gave him everything. “It is a disease that is considered extremely complex: acute myeloid leukemia, which is a very aggressive bone marrow cancer. He developed it after having been treated for many years for a blood disease called polycythemia and it evolved into this cancer, and he began to feel not very well at the beginning of the year,” said Daniel Sarmiento, his son, in interview with WEEK.
Even though he was out of coaching, Sarmiento never stopped watching Football. He regularly picked up the phone to talk about baseball with friends, former players and journalists who were attentive to every step in his fight against cancer.
Pedro Sarmiento’s successful career allowed him to wear the Colombian National Team shirt in 38 official matches. With the Tricolor he scored three goals and played in two qualifying processes for the World Cups in Spain 1982 and Mexico 1986, to which the country unfortunately did not qualify. Sarmiento also belonged, as an assistant, to the teams of Hernán Darío Gómez and Francisco Maturana, in one of the golden eras of Colombian football.
Sarmiento, the person behind the legend
Memories are what will keep alive the memory of the legendary coach, who said goodbye to this world at the age of 68. Off the courts he left great lessons for those who managed to share moments with him and his family.
“I want to remember Pedro with his smile, with his spontaneity, with his way of being authentic. People think he was brave, but he was a badass, “with a huge heart that cared about you, your family, your work, a lot of things and details,” journalist Óscar Tobón, who had a close relationship with Sarmiento in the last years of his life, told SEMANA.
“I called her ‘my ugly girlfriend.’ He called me more than my wife. He called me almost every day, every other day. He went out for a walk every day in Llanogrande, he called me and we talked about tactics, football, the Nacional game, the Medellín game, the Colombian National Team, but mainly about the two teams here,” Tobón recalled.
This gift of people is reflected in the hundreds of messages published by clubs, players and representatives of Colombian football, after learning of the death of Pedro Sarmiento at the Pablo Tobón Uribe hospital in the capital of Antioquia.
The Colombian Football Federation (FCF) also paid a heartfelt tribute: “The Colombian Football Federation headed by its president, Ramón Jesurún, the Executive Committee and the Technical Bodies of the Colombian National Team regret the death of former player and coach Pedro Sarmiento” .
It is expected that this weekend there will be a minute of silence in all the fields in the country to honor the coach’s memory. The first to pay a heartfelt posthumous tribute were the players from Atlético Nacional and Independiente Medellín, prior to the Antioquia classic for the semifinals of the Betplay Cup, a match played on Thursday, October 31.
Embracing in the center of the field, the two teams on which he left an indelible mark joined in condolences to the family and loved ones. In the Atanasio Girardot stadium, where he made people celebrate so many times with his goals, not a single voice was heard even though the stands were completely full. When the referee blew his whistle, the silence turned into a wave of applause that echoed to the sky in tribute to a great Colombian professional soccer player.
