Victor Aristizabal: reported to have been threatened

"Apparently, a specific player, Victor Aristizabal, was not wanted to go with the team, and the coach was threatened as well. And in fact Aristizabal played very little in Colombia's three World Cup matches," says Nicholas Rochanf, a television journalist based in the Colombian capital Bogota.

A betting cartel is believed to be behind the threats.

Four years ago in the United States, the Colombian player Andres Escobar gave away an own goal that ended up knocking his team out of the cup. Soon after his arrival home he was murdered.

Extra precautions

Andres Escobar in mind, the Colombian team has been taking the threats very seriously.

Journalist Nicholas Rochanf: "There were threats before the team went to France"

"I think the Colombian team have taken extra precautions. In France they have had four Colombian and four French policemen protecting the team," Mr Rochanf says.

But he thinks the team are not in grave danger in spite of losing their crucial match against England on Friday.

"People were not really expecting very much from the team, neither in the match against England nor in the whole World Cup. The odds against them were very high, so I do not think there was that much money on them.

"If it is so, then it is less dangerous for the team," Mr Rochanf believes.

Drug money

Club football in Colombia has traditionally been penetrated by money from powerful drug barons. But in the last few years, there has been a big effort to clean up the football teams.

Government action against drug traffickers has meant that many of those who own football clubs have been imprisoned or, in some instances, killed. Some of the teams have been taken over by the government.

Also the national team has been trying to keep itself isolated from the drug money.

"But it is very difficult to avoid the drug money completely," Mr Rochanf says.