An unbeaten first trip to Colombia | OneFootball

As Colombia faces Ghana for a place among the teams qualified for the Round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup, the São Paulo Historical Archive recalls Tricolor’s first tour in the neighboring South American country, with two wins and three draws.

In 1955, São Paulo organized a tour of the Americas. The trip had begun in Mexico, where the team won the first trophy in the club’s history earned on foreign soil, on its own. The tour then moved on to Colombia on June 22, on an Azteca flight to Las Playas Airport (now Olaya Herrera) in Medellín, with another stopover in Panama.

Tricolor’s first match on Colombian soil was against the country’s champion, Atlético Nacional, on the 25th, and the team only avoided defeat at Atanásio Girardot Stadium thanks to a goal by Canhoteiro in the 46th minute of the second half. Fair enough, the home side’s second goal had only come two minutes earlier! The final score was 2-2 (the visitors’ first goal was scored by Maurinho).

“Dramatismo en los minutos finales: en forma milagrosa se escaparon los brasileños de la derrota” (El Colombiano, June 26, 1955).

ATLÉTICO NACIONAL 2 x 2 SÃO PAULO06/25/1955. International Friendly: Single Match.Medellín (Colombia), Atanásio Girardot Stadium.

SPFC: Jose Poy; De Sordi and Mauro; Pé de Valsa (Víctor), Bauer and Turcão; Maurinho, Lanzoninho (Canhoteiro), Paraíba, Dino Sani and Teixeirinha. COACH: Vicente Feola. GOALS: Maurinho, 30/2; Canhoteiro, 46/2.

OPPONENT: Gabriel Mejía; Hernán Escobar and Roberto Martínez; Ignacio Calle, Nicolás Gianastasio (Apolo García) and Ulises Terra; Domingo Pepe, Alfredo Mosquera (Miguel Zazzini), Juan Carlos Toja, Humberto Álvarez and José Luis Lanza (Paglioni). COACH: Fernando Paternóster. GOALS: Juan Carlos Toja, 26/2; Humberto Álvarez, 44/2.

REFEREE: Mario Ruben Heyn (Colombia).GATE RECEIPTS: 20,894.50 Colombian pesos.ATTENDANCE: 10,600 paid

On June 29, at the same venue as the previous match, Tricolor faced Independiente Medellín and came away with another draw, this time 1-1, once again with a goal scored near the end of the match (by Paraíba, in the 42nd minute).

“The tricolors ‘bombarded’ the opposing goal, subjecting goalkeeper Sanchez to constant pressure and allowing the defensive players to truly show their worth in preventing their goal from being breached. They did not win, therefore, because they were dogged by bad luck in some plays and, finally, by the tremendous performance of the goalkeeper…” (A Gazeta Esportiva, July 8, 1955).

INDEPENDIENTE MEDELLÍN 1 x 1 SÃO PAULO06/29/1955. International Friendly: Single Match.Medellín (Colombia), Atanásio Girardot Stadium.

SPFC: Jose Poy; De Sordi and Mauro; Pé de Valsa, Bauer and Alfredo Ramos; Maurinho (Roque), Lanzoninho (Teixeirinha), Paraíba, Dino Sani and Canhoteiro. COACH: Vicente Feola. GOAL: Paraíba, 42/2.

OPPONENT: Efraín Sánchez; Lauro Rodríguez and Lidoro Soria; Francisco Pacheco, Pedro Retamozo (Lorenzo Calonga) and Hernando Caicedo; Orlando Larraz, Manuel Moreno, René Seghini, Felipe Marino and Valerio Delatour (Carlos Arango). COACH: Delfín Benítez Cáceres. GOAL: Felipe Marino, 15/2.

REFEREE: Jose A. Sundheim.GATE RECEIPTS: 39,111.50 Colombian pesos.ATTENDANCE: 20,000 paid

The first win in Colombia came in the second match against Atlético Nacional, on July 3, after a downpour, and it showed there was no doubt about which team was better: Tricolor 3-0! With two goals from Paraíba and one from Canhoteiro.

“Sao Paulo crushed Nacional: before 13 thousand spectators, the Colombian champion fell” (El Tiempo, July 4, 1955).

ATLÉTICO NACIONAL 0 x 3 SÃO PAULO07/03/1955. International Friendly: Single Match.Medellín (Colombia), Atanásio Girardot Stadium.

SPFC: Jose Poy (Costa); De Sordi and Mauro (Pirani); Pé de Valsa, Bauer (Víctor) and Alfredo Ramos (Turcão); Maurinho (Teixeirinha), Lanzoninho, Paraíba, Dino Sani (Roque) and Canhoteiro (Válter). COACH: Vicente Feola. GOALS: Paraíba, 29/1; Canhoteiro, 10/2; Paraíba, 16/2. SENT OFF: Lanzoninho, 5/2.

OPPONENT: Gabriel Mejía; Hernán Escobar and Roberto Martínez; Ignacio Calle (Rodríguez), Nicolás Gianastasio (Apolo García) and Ulises Terra; Domingo Pepe, Alfredo Mosquera, Juan Carlos Toja, Miguel Zazzini and José Luis Lanza (Tomasito). COACH: Fernando Paternóster. SENT OFF: Ignacio Calle.

REFEREE: Jose A. Sundheim.GATE RECEIPTS: 26,046.50 Colombian pesos.ATTENDANCE: 13,300 paid

Unbeaten in Medellín, São Paulo headed to the city of Cali, where on July 6 it would take on Boca Juniors… the one from Cali, not Buenos Aires (some publications even made that mistake years later).

Lanzoninho hit the woodwork twice, once in each half, but Paraíba, ruthless once again, scored the first, and Maurinho sealed the score: 2-0 at Pascual Guerrero Stadium. The Brazilian press representative (Sebastião Barbosa, from A Gazeta Esportiva) who followed the match, however, chose winger Canhoteiro and center-half Bauer as the best players that night.

The local media, in turn, praised the team as a whole: “… which ended with the thoroughly deserved victory of the visitors by two goals to nil. Clear superiority was shown by the Sao Paulo men, who once again confirmed their power, their excellent play, and their great physical condition” (El País, July 7, 1955).

BOCA JUNIORS 0 x 2 SÃO PAULO07/06/1955. International Friendly: Single Match.Cali (Colombia), Pascual Guerrero Stadium.

SPFC: Jose Poy; De Sordi (Turcão) and Mauro; Pé de Valsa, Bauer and Alfredo Ramos (Víctor); Maurinho, Lanzoninho (Teixeirinha), Paraíba, Roque and Canhoteiro. COACH: Vicente Feola. GOALS: Paraíba (header), 9/1; Maurinho, 8/2.

OPPONENT: Gonzalo Escobar; Elmo Palomino and Ángel Chávez; Candal, Cuevas and Santiago Rivas; Miguel Panesso, H. Crespo, Fernando Rengifo, Morello (Delacuy) and Jesús Obando. COACH: Julio Tocker.

REFEREE: Marco Tulio Amaya (Colombia).GATE RECEIPTS: 19,016.40 Colombian pesos.ATTENDANCE: 9,700 paid

São Paulo’s final battle in Colombia was in Bogotá, on July 10, at the famous El Campín, and the warrior-like team from São Paulo, even amid a tiring run of matches and facing yet another pitch battered by the heavy rains hours before kickoff, once again did not surrender and avoided defeat.

Against Millonarios, on a poor pitch due to the rain, the team once again spent its last reserves of energy and equalized in the closing minutes: Paraíba, in the 43rd minute, once again found the net, making it 2-2 – Tricolor’s first goal had come from Maurinho in the first half.

With so many goals scored on this tour (five), Paraíba was Tricolor’s standout name among the local press and fans. To the Colombians, he was “Thomaz de Aquino,” or “El Santo” – the player’s full name, better known in Brazil by the nickname taken from his birthplace, was Sebastião Thomaz de Aquino.

MILLONARIOS 2 x 2 SÃO PAULO07/10/1955. International Friendly: Single Match.Bogotá (Colombia), Nemésio Camacho Stadium – El Campín.

SPFC: Jose Poy; De Sordi and Mauro; Pé de Valsa, Bauer and Alfredo Ramos; Maurinho, Lanzoninho, Paraíba, Roque (Teixeirinha) and Canhoteiro. COACH: Vicente Feola. GOALS: Maurinho (header), 41/1; Paraíba, 43/2.

OPPONENT: Hernández; Francisco Zuluaga and Vega; Hernando Moyano, Luis Alberto Rubio and Hernando González; Liborio Guzmán, Maiyelenic (Jorge Roa), Alfredo Castillo, Morello and Rafael Valek. COACH: Donald Ross. GOALS: Alfredo Castillo, 24/2; Rafael Valek, 40/2.

REFEREE: Jesus Lires Lopes (Colombia).GATE RECEIPTS: 26,142.00 Colombian pesos.ATTENDANCE: 13,400 paid

On an Avianca four-engine aircraft, Tricolor left Colombia on July 12, still unbeaten, and headed to Caracas, Venezuela, where it would compete in the Small Club World Cup, as the Copa General de Brigada Marcos Pérez Jiménez friendly tournament was informally known.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.