User:Keye Umber/Football Dreams, a world of passion

Translated from La selección (Spanish Wikipedia)

Football Dreams, a World of Passion
Genre	Drama, Sports, Suspense, Comedy
Created by	Caracol Televisión
Written by	César Augusto Betancur
Directed by	Luis Alberto Restrepo, Ricardo Coral, Jorge Sandoval
Starring	Édgar Vittorino, Antonio Jiménez, John Alex Castillo, Omar Murillo, Rafael Santos Díaz
Opening theme	Sí sí Colombia, Sí sí Caribe (composed by Francisco Zumaqué, adapted and performed by Jox)
Country of origin	Colombia
Original language	Spanish
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	77 (1st season), 64 (2nd season)
Production
Producers	Kepa Amuchastegui, Asier Aguilar
Production locations	Colombia, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, England, Mexico
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	Caracol Televisión
Release	July 3, 2013 (2013-07-03) – August 3, 2014 (2014-08-03)

Football Dreams, a world of passion (Spanish: La selección) is a Colombian television series produced by Caracol Televisión in 2013 and 2014. It consists of two seasons. It stars Édgar Vittorino, Antonio Jiménez, John Alex Castillo, Omar Murillo, and Rafael Santos Díaz.

Its first season premiered on July 3, 2013, with a rating of 15.8, taking the top spot in viewership, and ended on October 25, 2013, with a rating of 14.7, again occupying first place, achieving an overall average of 14.8. This allowed it to enter the Top 20 of the most-watched programs on Colombian private television. Its second season premiered on April 28, 2014, continuing the storyline.

Synopsis

A tribute to the lives and careers of footballers Faustino Asprilla, Carlos ‘El Pibe’ Valderrama, René Higuita, Freddy Rincón, and Iván René Valenciano. This production focuses on their lives, loves, families, and the passion that keeps them celebrated as sports heroes. They continue to evoke intense emotions across generations who still cherish their past and present glories. The series shows the public all the challenges that the players of the Colombian national team faced during their qualification and subsequent participation in the 1990, 1994, and 1998 World Cups.

Cast

Main characters

Actor	Character	Description
Omar Murillo	Faustino "El Tino" Asprilla	The restless boy from Tuluá, known since childhood for his long legs that allowed him to run swiftly, with great agility to jump and dodge obstacles. Destiny had the path to glory reserved for him as he became a talented and skillful player known by the nickname "The Gazelle." In 1993, he was the standout player for Parma in Italy, scoring a free-kick goal that ended AC Milan's 53-game unbeaten streak. On September 5 of that same year, just before the match against Argentina in the USA '94 World Cup qualifiers, "El Tino" stepped onto the pitch at the Estadio Monumental, and while speaking on his cellphone, raised a hand to the crowd, who were whistling and insulting him furiously. He signaled with his fingers that he would score two goals—and, of course, he kept his promise.
John Alex Castillo	René Higuita	Nicknamed "El Loco" (The Madman) for his risky forays out of the goal, which also made him the creator of the "sweeper-keeper" position. As a teenager, he met Magnolia Echeverry, a neighbor from the Castilla neighborhood in Medellín. René considered her the love of his life, and she reciprocated, but that love had to face hundreds of admirers and the demanding training camps with his club and the national team. In 1993, the national team was preparing for the USA '94 World Cup qualifiers, but René could not be part of the squad because he was arrested and imprisoned for mediating the release of a young woman kidnapped by Pablo Escobar. On September 5 of that year, Higuita watched the Colombia-Argentina match from the National Model Prison.
Edgar Vittorino	Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama	"El Pibe" Valderrama, called "The Perfume of Football" by Francisco Maturana, quickly became the number 10 for the Colombia national team. In 1989, after a hard-fought qualifying campaign, he and his teammates achieved the impossible: returning to a World Cup after 28 years. The entire country took to the streets to celebrate. "El Mono" from Santa Marta fulfilled the promise he made to his father and became the first major Colombian footballer to be sold to a European team. Four years later, Carlos repeated the feat, and after being a key playmaker and protagonist in the historic 5-0 victory over Argentina, he was chosen as the Best Player in the Americas for the second time in his career.
Antonio Jiménez	Freddy Rincón	He was dubbed "The Colossus of Buenaventura" by the Bogotá press. In 1986, he had the opportunity to play for a team in the capital, and he said goodbye to his girlfriend Caridad and to the Chemical Engineering degree he was pursuing. He left his humble home carrying his only pair of soccer cleats and made a promise to his mother, Doña Rufina: "I’m going to become a player for the Colombia national team, and I’m going to replace this wooden house with the concrete house you deserve." On the morning of Sunday, September 5, 1993, from his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Freddy Rincón, an undisputed pillar in the midfield, called his mother and promised her he would score against the Argentine team, a promise he fulfilled twice.
Rafael Santos Díaz	Iván René Valenciano	He is the second-highest scorer in the history of Colombian Professional Football, with 217 goals.

Secondary characters

Actor	Character	Description
Jeymmy Paola Vargas Gómez	Clarisa Galván	Born in La Guajira, she has a cunning nature that "El Pibe" doesn't hesitate to describe as "witch's tricks." She has the ability to anticipate things that are going to happen and always knows when her husband is lying. Clarisa is cheerful and good-natured, enjoys a simple life, and had a childhood full of hardships, which is why she appreciates and values anything she receives. Moreover, above all material things, her top priority is the well-being of her children and the stability of her family. She is Carlos Valderrama’s teenage girlfriend—intelligent, loving, entrepreneurial, with strong morals—and she always supports her husband in everything.
Karent Hinestroza	Caridad Murillo	Her dazzling beauty and overwhelming sensuality captivated Freddy the moment he saw her in the stands while he was playing for Atlético Buenaventura. Caridad is proud and very temperamental, accustomed not to presenting ideas but to imposing them. Although she enjoys football, she sees it as a great rival in her relationship with Freddy. She is a victim of a manipulative mother who constantly poisons her mind and provokes fights with the footballer. Prone to tantrums, Caridad can make Freddy Rincón's life very happy—when she wants to.
Tatiana Arango	Magnolia Echeverry	René Higuita's great love. A humble and simple woman, born and raised in a village in Antioquia. Magnolia always shows an unusual maturity for a teenager, well-mannered, with firm and defined principles. She is very focused and knows exactly what she wants and where she is going. She could be called a "model girl," with all the virtues and stunning beauty of a telenovela protagonist, which is exactly her story alongside Colombia's goalkeeper.
Eileen Moreno	Carolina Méndez	The pampered daughter of Don Libardo Méndez, a prosperous builder from Antioquia. At 17, she is used to turning heads and being the center of attention. She is beautiful and joyful, but also rebellious and spoiled. She believes she was born for great things and always wants the best, as her only-child status has accustomed her to that. Don Libardo has big plans for her, planning to send her abroad to study, but Faustino Asprilla appears and disrupts everything. The young woman falls madly in love with the footballer, causing her father to become the worst enemy of the skillful forward.
Emilia Ceballos	Yadira Donado	This 22-year-old woman from Barranquilla is expecting her first baby. The ultrasound has already revealed that it will be a boy, and she plans to name him Aldair, hoping he will make a living playing football like his father, Iván René Valenciano, "The Bomber." Yadira is warm, loving, and at times obsessive and suffocating in her feelings for her husband. She is also joyful, beautiful, and very sexy. She never lacked suitors, but she gave her heart and all her charms to the top scorer of Barranquilla's Tiburón team. A year ago, she agreed to marry him and feels like the happiest woman in the world. However, her happiness is shattered when she learns about the existence of Viviana, the secret "girlfriend" of the Colombian football star.

• Fanor Esteban Castellanos Alvarán – Camilo Valenciano
• Kepa Amuchastegui – Nick Jones
• Félix Antequera – Horacio Hasbun
• Xilena Aycardi – Paulina
• Julián Caicedo – Víctor Manuel Osorio "Caremonja"
• Jorge Herrera – Benavides (Faustino's Coach)
• Bárbara Perea – Marcelina Hinestroza (Faustino's Mother)
• Rubí Quejada – Berta Asprilla
• Nina Caicedo – Nelly Asprilla
• Lina Castrillón – Leticia Estrada (Physiotherapist)
• Esmeralda Pinzón – Raquel "Raquelita"
• Carlos Congote – Magistrate Valencia
• Aurora Cossio – Viviana
• Helga Díaz – Gloria
• Daniella Donado – Daniela Castro
• Caterin Escobar – Diana Pulido
• Maia Landaburu – Monique
• Rosalba Goenaga – Maruja
• Carmenza Gómez – Juana Palacio
• Margoth Velásquez – Doña Rufina Valencia
• Ofelia Agudelo – Ana Feliza "Irmita" Zapata (René Higuita's Grandmother)
• Bárbaro Marín – Carlos "Jaricho" Valderrama
• Ismael Barrios – Macario Alfonso Cervantes
• Fabio Restrepo – Juan Alberto Higuita
• Nicolás Montero – Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento
• Luis Fernando Múnera – Libardo Méndez
• Alberto Pujol – Uriel Valenciano
• Camilo Guzmán – Lothar Matthäus
• Diego Landaeta – Leonel Álvarez
• Ramsés Ramos – Francisco Maturana
• Silvio David Plaza – Hernán Darío "El Bolillo" Gómez
• Juan Sebastián Quintero – Andrés Escobar
• Peter Cárdenas – Carlos Mario Hoyos
• Arthur Garbe – Julio César, Player of Montpellier Club (Montpellier Hérault SC) and Palmeiras
• Felipe Galofre – Javier Fonseca
• Jennifer Steffens – Piedad Pérez
• María Elvira Arango – Cristina López
• Jefferson Quiñones – Miguel Rincón (Manuel Rincón), Freddy Eusebio Rincón Valencia's Brother
• Luis Felipe Cortés – Julian Pérez
• Luis Fernando Velasco – Walter García (Freddy Rincón's Businessman)
• Andrés Felipe Martínez – Pedro Monsalve, President: Atlético Verdolagas (Atlético Nacional)
• Gerardo Calero – Gerardo Nieto, President: Deportivo Azucareros (Deportivo Cali)
• Jimmy Vásquez – Doctor Céspedes, President: Motilones Deportivo (Cúcuta Deportivo)
• Armando Gutiérrez – Doctor Moya, President: Expreso Rojo (Independiente Santa Fe)
• Humberto Dorado – León Londoño Tamayo, President: Colombian Football Federation
• Fernando Solórzano – Juan Manuel Bello (Juan José Bellini), Federation President
• Juan Carlos Arango – Jorge Luis Pinto
• Gonzalo Vivanco – Julio Avelino Comesaña
• Guillermo Olarte – Gabriel Ochoa Uribe
• Didier van der Hove – Pierre Mosca
• Willington Ortiz – Himself
• Diego Vásquez – Ignacio "Nacho" Villa
• Andrés Parra – Pablo Escobar
• Hermes Camelo – Leonardo Villegas
• Andrés Felipe Torres – Mateo
• Edgar Perea – Himself
• John Mario Rivera – Edinson Bonilla "El Milagroso"
• Federico Rivera – Bonilla alias "Merengue"
• Norberto Rivera – Julio
• Santiago Soto – Joaquín, Executive: Federation
• Jenny Vargas – Jimena Ruiz
• Diego León Ospina – Darío Saldaña (Detective)
• Rafael Taibo – Fernán del Bosque
• Salvo Basile – Father Paulo
• Adriana Campos – Lucero Pombo (Secretary)
• Ángela Moreno – Renata Vieri
• Constanza Hernández – Nury Pacheco
• Kriss Cifuentes – Emilio
• Marcela Vargas – Aurora (Teacher)
• Sandra Guzmán – Juana (Guide-Translator)
• Amparo Conde – Marcela de Pulido
• Cosetta Turco – Carla
• Mariana de Córdoba – Lina Galvis
• Mary Herrera – Ángela Zapata
• Juliana Gómez – Pilar Higuita
• Barrabas Gómez – Leonardo Quintero
• James Vargas – José Rafael Rincón Bonilla
• Jennifer Arenas – Victoria Echeverry