After making his debut against Venezuela in 1993, Mondragón was a member of the Colombian national teams that competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics and the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup. During the 1998 World Cup, he started in goal for all three of their games, including the final match against England. Despite conceding two goals, he made some impressive saves and in doing so kept the score down to 2–0, with the BBC's South American football correspondent Tim Vickery saying that Mondragón was "single-handedly responsible for the fact that England did not run up a cricket score". At the end of the game, Mondragón broke down in tears and David Seaman, England's goalkeeper, did his best to console him. According to German footballing legend Franz Beckenbauer, Mondragón had been the best goalkeeper of the first round.