Copa Libertadores: Few footballing stories are Wilder than Santa Fe's Medina

Wilder enjoys scoring for Santa Fe

It would be an immense understatement to say Wilder Medina's career has been up and down but the Santa Fe striker would touch a new high with an against the odds second leg Copa Libertadores victory over Olimpia, says Jonathan Wilson 

Perhaps, in the fevered atmosphere of El Campin next Tuesday night, Santa Fe can stage one of the great comebacks to overhaul Olimpia and reach the final of the Copa Libertadores. Perhaps. But Olimpia beat them 2-0 in the first leg in Asuncion on Tuesday, and were comfortably the better side in the second half after Juan Manuel Salgueiro and Gerardo Bedoya had been sent off just before the break.

Herminio Miranda put them ahead from the penalty spot after 66 minutes after the Santa Fe keeper Camilo Vargas had fouled Alejandro Silva as they scrambled from the rebound of the substitute's initial shot and the game took a decisive shift the way of the Paraguayans with nine minutes remaining as Juan Carlos Ferreyra swept in Silva's cut-back.

So Olimpia deserved it, but if Santa Fe need inspiration they need only look to their centre-forward Wilder Medina, a man who has come back from far worse before.

It's common for footballers to find they have too much free-time. They train, and then what do they do for the rest of the day? In the case of Medina, he took a gun and committed robberies with a street-gang of around 30 men known as Combo.

Medina grew up in the small town of Puerto Nare, Antioquia. His father worked in a cement factory and refereed games in his spare time, but young Wilder had no money for a ball and so improvised with fruit. Wilder began to play in tournaments and it became apparent he had a special talent. His father supported him, taking time off from work and going into debt. And then, aged 51, Medina's father died.

The family moved to Rio Negro. Medina's mother sold sweets, marzipan and ice-cream to try to make a living. Medina quit school to play for Deportivo Rionegro, where he wasn't paid. Life was tough, and Medina fell in with a gang, seduced by their motorbikes, the way they dressed and the way women seemed to hang around them. He never killed anybody, but he would use a gun as a threat.

All the while he kept playing football, kept impressing scouts. When he was 17, an Argentinian club wanted to buy him, but he tested positive for marijuana. Between 1997 and 2003, he was a criminal. On one occasion, he was in a house with other gang members and was suddenly struck by a sense he had to get out. He and his brother fled and, a few seconds later, the house was destroyed by a grenade. On another occasion, a rival gang pursued him, shooting at him, and he believes he was saved only because his brother happened to be standing on the balcony of his home and could open the door for him.

For that, he thanks God. Medina has become a devout Christian and is sure God regularly got him out of trouble. It was God, he said, who helped him straighten out. From 2004, he gave up gang membership and committed to football. He was top scorer in the second flight with Patriotas in 2007 and the following year got a move to Deportivo Tolima. There he became a genuine star, and helped the club to the quarter-final of the Sudamericana in 2011.

Then, disaster: Medina tested positive for marijuana again and was banned for a year. Towards the end of his suspension, Tolima tested Medina again and claimed to have found traces of both marijuana and cocaine. He denies the allegations, but had to leave the club.
Redemption, though, was waiting, at Santa Fe. In 17 league starts for the club he has scored 12 goals and proved himself a wiry, awkward, intelligent forward and there's no doubt that he has been a central figure in getting Santa Fe to the semi-final of the Libertadores.

Getting to the final, though, looks a daunting task. They haven't conceded to a foreign side at home in the Libertadores this season but, equally, Santa Fe haven't exactly been prolific at home, scoring just eight in five home matches. A win in the leg is likely; a win in the tie much less so.

Recommended Bet
Back Santa Fe to win the game
Back Olimpia to qualify