Chile, despite the sad shenanigans towards the end of their final qualifier, should be respected for the way they acquitted themselves on the pitch. They certainly had some quality in their ranks, and after what must have been a somewhat disappointing Copa América tournament, they battled well, perhaps at times even in a very direct sense of the word, against the mighty Brazilians. 

Manager Orlando Aravena would have at his disposal for their first qualifier, the trip to Caracas to play group also-rans Venezuela, some of their Europe based players. The three forwards which started for the Chileans then, Patricio Yáñez, Hugo Rubio and Ivo Basay, had all flown across the Atlantic Ocean to play their part. They won less comprehensively than the Brazilians had done in the same stadium the week before, though that was pretty much down to Venezuela’s ‘keeper Baena, who had made several fine stops towards the latter stages. 

The home clash with the Brazilians was almost war-like. The Colombian referee handed out a total of ten cards, of which two were red. While Brazil lost Romário as early as the second minute, Chile’s tenacious midfielder Raúl Ormeño followed suit before the quarter of an hour mark, after a horrific tackle against Branco. He was subsequently suspended for three matches, something which in practice turned out to mean that he never again would play a telling match for the national side. While Chile were fortunate to see a perfectly valid Brazil goal ruled out for 0-2, they got their late equalizer in debatable circumstances thanks to substitute Ivo Basay tucking away a close range indirect free-kick played quick into his path by Jorge Aravena. 

Due to both on and off the field trouble as far as that home fixture against the Brazilians went, Chile had to play their final home qualifier out of the country. They opted for Mendoza in Argentina, approximately a three hour drive from Santiago, and in a game where they’d needed to win by a margin of eight clear goals in order to overtake Brazil on goal differene at the top of the group standings, they could ‘only’ muster a 5-0 outcome. Experienced striker Juan Carlos Letelier and lively midfielder Jaime Vera had both been brought into the starting eleven for the first time in this qualification, and both responded well: Letelier with a hat-trick, and Vera with a ‘Man of the Match’ performance. 

This meant there was still all to play for as Chile paid Brazil and the famous Maracanã a visit on the final day of qualification. Once again they needed to make do without their Swiss based forward pairing of Iván Zamorano and Hugo Rubio, who did not make it back to South America in time to take part, and a change in formation saw Orlando Aravena opt for a more cautious approach in order to try and frustrate the hosts for as long as possible. They’d been hoping that Patricio Yáñez’ pace up top could cause the home defence some trouble, though they rarely got out from their own half during a first half in which they were indebted to captain and ‘keeper Roberto Rojas for performing admirably. Then they went behind early in the second half, and though they were briefly on top in the wake of Careca’s goal, they could not quite put Brazil to the sword. Ultimately, they embarrassed themselves by attempting to rescue their qualification campaign by claiming that Rojas had been injured by a flare thrown from the stands. It had all been play-acting. FIFA awarded Brazil the win, and Chile were duly punished. It was a grim end to a disappointing year in the history of ‘la Roja’. 

Despite what had happened in Brazil, Chile had shown signs of being a talented side under Aravena’s tutelage. However, due to the ban which would soon be placed upon them by world football’s governing body FIFA, they would not get a chance to show this in the next World Cup qualification. Aravena resigned some ten days after the end of the qualification and before he had been handed his individual ban, and Rojas and libero Astengo would play no further part at international level following their respective bans. It sure was a sad end to what could otherwise have been regarded as a gallant attempt at reaching Italia ’90.