{"id":296854,"date":"2023-11-07T17:24:17","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T17:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=296854"},"modified":"2023-11-07T17:24:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T17:24:17","slug":"luis-diaz-set-for-call-up-to-colombian-team-amidst-kidapping-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/luis-diaz-set-for-call-up-to-colombian-team-amidst-kidapping-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Luis Diaz &apos;set for call-up to Colombian team&apos; amidst kidapping crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Luis Diaz &#8216;is set to be called up for Colombia&#8217;s upcoming World Cup qualifiers&#8217; &#8211; as guerilla group prepare to release his father nearly 11 days after his kidnapping<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Liverpool star has earned 43 caps and is considered a national hero in Colombia<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Military forces are believed to have withdrawn in a bid to force father&#8217;s release\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Liverpool&#8217;s Luis Diaz is extraordinary &#8211; Listen here to It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Luis Diaz is set to receive a call-up to the Colombian national team for upcoming ties against Brazil and Paraguay whilst his father remains a captive of the ELN guerilla group, according to local reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Liverpool star offered up a passionate plea to his father Luis Manuel Diaz&#8217;s captors on Sunday when he revealed a t-shirt printed with the words &#8216;Freedom for Dad&#8217; written in Spanish under his jersey.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 26-year-old revealed the message after scoring his side&#8217;s late equaliser against Luton on Sunday, and escaped punishment for doing so by the FA on compassionate grounds.<\/p>\n<p>Hopes are high that Diaz Snr will be released on Tuesday\u00a0after the Colombian military withdrew personnel from the area close to the Venezuelan border where the Marxist-Leninist group are thought to be holding him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The ELN requested the move from Colombia&#8217;s armed forces in a bid to facilitate his release, after kidnapping Diaz Snr and his wife Cilenis Marulanda &#8211; who was released hours later &#8211; over 10 days ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/07\/16\/77514199-12721429-image-a-89_1699375447593.jpg\" height=\"460\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Luis Diaz revealed an enotional message to his father&#8217;s captors after scoring against Luton<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/07\/16\/77514157-12721429-image-a-90_1699375450436.jpg\" height=\"410\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Colombian military have moved personnel back to the town of Barrancas in a bid to force Diaz Snr&#8217;s release<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/07\/16\/77514167-12721429-image-a-91_1699375455776.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Luis Manuel Diaz has been missing for nearly 11 days after being snatched off the street in his hometown by armed men on motorcycles<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>But amidst the turbulence, Diaz is expected to be named to Nestor Lorenzo&#8217;s squad for the country&#8217;s next spate of internationals, both of which are World Cup qualifiers, according to Colombian journalist Diego Rueda.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The first, against Brazil, is set to take place in Colombia&#8217;s Estadio Metropolitano in Barranquilla on November 17, with a trip to Paraguay taking place four days later.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was previously decided that it was a security risk for Diaz to travel to his home country in the wake of the kidnapping crisis, due to concerns over the player&#8217;s own personal safety.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Colombians &#8211; including Ambassador to the UK Roy Barreras &#8211; previously called for a boycott of the international fixtures in a bid to force the release of Diaz Snr.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The forward is a national hero in Colombia, where he is known by the affectionate nickname &#8216;Lucho&#8217;, and the campaign stemmed from the success of Brazilian star Romario&#8217;s own efforts to use a World Cup boycott to speed up the release of his father in 1994.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Two days after the Brazilian called the press conference announcing he would not be travelling with the squad to the World Cup that year, Romario&#8217;s father was released.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So well thought of is Diaz in his home country that an ELN leader admitted that it had been a mistake to take his father hostage.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/07\/16\/77514173-12721429-image-a-92_1699375458555.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The 26-year-old is a beloved member of the national team and affectionately known as &#8216;Lucho&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/07\/16\/77514321-12721429-image-a-93_1699375504472.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Diaz has earned 43 caps for his country since his debut for the national team in August 2018<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The retention of Luis Diaz&#8217;s father by the Northern War Front was a mistake,&#8217; ELN commander Antonio Garcia wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Lucho is a symbol of Colombia &#8211; that is how we in the ELN feel about him.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Colombia currently sit fifth in their qualifying group for the 2026 World Cup at the very start of their campaign, hunting a win after draws against Ecuador, Uruguay, and Chile.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>World Cup winners Argentina sit first in the group, ahead of Uruguay and Brazil, thanks to their as yet unbeaten record.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12721429\/Luis-Diaz-Colombia-World-Cup-qualifier-kidnapping.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Luis Diaz &#8216;is set to be called up for Colombia&#8217;s upcoming World Cup qualifiers&#8217; &#8211; as guerilla group prepare to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Luis Diaz &amp;apos;set for call-up to Colombian team&amp;apos; amidst kidapping crisis - All My Sports News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/luis-diaz-set-for-call-up-to-colombian-team-amidst-kidapping-crisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Luis Diaz &amp;apos;set for call-up to Colombian team&amp;apos; amidst kidapping crisis - All My Sports News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Luis Diaz &#8216;is set to be called up for Colombia&#8217;s upcoming World Cup qualifiers&#8217; 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