World Cup 2010 Blog: “France World Cup 2010 Team Profile” plus 1 more |  |
| France World Cup 2010 Team Profile Posted: 02 Apr 2010 10:12 PM PDT Nickname: Les Bleus. (The Blues.) FIFA World Ranking as of April 1st 2010: #8 Coach: Raymond Domenech. Possibly the least popular coach in international football right now. Most fans can’t believe he wasn’t fired after France’s Euro 2008 performance. Whether he’s selecting players based on astrology or proposing to his girlfriend on television after exiting a major tournament, it’s impossible to guess what DomDom will do next. Key Players: Yoann Gourcuff, Florent Malouda, Franck Ribery Player with best YouTube video: Thierry Heny Best Named Player: Steve Mandanda. Because it’s fun to say. Qualification: Ha. Interesting: When 6 ft 6.5in centre back Matthew Booth has the ball, the South Africa fans sound like they’re booing him. But they’re not, they’re just chanting his name. National Anthem: Kit: World Cup History: Squad: South Africa World Cup squad page.
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| Posted: 02 Apr 2010 01:37 PM PDT
I think the best word to describe Chile’s participation in the World Cup so far is “periodic.” The team has been to more World Cups than most nations, but has also missed out on plenty of tournaments too. Two of them thanks to one goalkeeper. Read on for the full story.
1930 World Cup in Uruguay
Chile were in a group with France, Mexico and Argentina, but only the winner went through to the semis. Chile beat Mexico 3-0, then France 1-0, with all but one of the goals coming from Colo-Colo striker Guillermo Subiabre. Chile needed a result against Argentina (who were level on points) in the final game, but lost 3-1. Guillermo Subiabre got the consolation goal to finish the tournament with four World Cup notches on his belt. 1950 World Cup in Brazil
Chile were drawn into Group 2 with England, Spain and the USA. They lost the opening game 2-0 to England, and also lost the following game 2-0 to Spain. Chile beat the USA 5-2 in the final game, but Spain ran away with the group and everyone else went home. 1962 World Cup in Chile
It’s impressive that Chile managed to host the tournament at all, given that disaster quite literally struck the country in the shape of the Valdiva earthquake in 1960. But after what must have been some impressive emergency planning and some heroic infrastructure rebuilding, the tournament went ahead in Chile as planned, and La Roja went on to record their best ever finish. Fernando Riera (from the 1950 squad) was the coach, and the Universidad de Chile pair of left mid Leonel Sánchez and striker Jaime Ramírez were the star players. Chile were draw into Group 2 with Italy, West Germany and Switzerland. They opened in Santiago with a 3-1 win over Switzerland (two goals from Sánchez, one from Ramírez). The second game was against Italy, in what is now known as the Battle of Santiago. BBC commentator David Coleman’s introduction is almost as shocking as the multiple fouls, scuffles and controversies. I won’t get into too much detail here, because The Battle of Santiago is easily worth a whole post of its own as part of our World Cup Moments series. Final score was Chile 2-0 Italy, with Ramírez getting one of the goals. The hosts lost the final group game 2-0 to West Germany, but qualified for their first ever knockout round in second place. In the Quarter-Finals, Chile faced the U.S.S.R. and the legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin. Incredibly, Leonel Sánchez beat Yashin with a near post free-kick, and after the U.S.S.R. equalized, the excellent named Eladio Rojas (how many players have a name so similar to their teams nickname) scored the winner from distance. There was a 76,600 capacity crowd in Santiago for Chile’s semi-final against World Cup holders Brazil. The home team put up a decent fight, but were beaten 4-2 by a Garrincha inspired Brazil. Chile beat Yugoslavia in the Third Place Playoff to record their best ever finish to date, and Leonel Sánchez finished joint top scorer in the tournament with four goals. 1966 World Cup in EnglandThis would be Chile’s first World Cup experience outside of South America. Though Ramírez and Sánchez were still in the squad, and the 19 year old defender and future legend Elías Figueroa made his World Cup debut, the team finished bottom of Group 4 with just one point. First Italy exacted revenge for 1962 by taking a 2-0 victory, then a surprisde 1-1 draw with North Korea, who scored their equalizer in the 88th minute, and finally a 2-1 defeat to the U.S.S.R. Not a great World Cup for Chile, but nice to get that first transatlantic World Cup out of the way. I’m clutching at straws for a silver lining here. 1974 World Cup in West GermanyChile’s qualification for the 1974 World Cup was way more interesting than their participation in the tournament. Especially if you like controversy and bizarre YouTube footage. Chile and old foes (from ‘62 and ‘66) the U.S.S.R. had a two-legged play-off for a place in the 1974 World Cup. The first leg in Moscow finished in a draw, and so all would be decided in Santiago. Except the Soviet team refused to play the second leg at Estadio Nacional in Santiago, because it had been used as a concentration camp by Augusto Pinochet after his 1973 military coup. Instead of relocating the game, FIFA demanded it be played in Santiago, and so – and this is not a joke – the match kicked off with Chile as the only team present.
One in West Germany, Chile lost 1-0 to West Germay, drew 1-1 with East Germany, and then 0-0 with Australia to finish third in Group 1 and go home early. Apparently football is much much harder when the opposition team turns up. 1982 World Cup in SpainChile failed to qualify for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, but made it to the 1982 tournament in Spain. Things did not go well. The squad was possibly too old, with defender Elías Figueroa (who had played in both the ‘66 and ‘74 World Cups) still in the squad at 35. La Roja opened with a 1-0 defeat to Austria, followed that up with a 4-1 loss to West Germany, and closed with a 3-2 defeat to Algeria. Chile finished bottom of Group 2 with zero points and a goal difference of -5, their worst World Cup record to date. But things were about to get worse. 1990, 1994 and the Roberto Rojas ScandalIt all started during a qualifier for the 1990 World Cup. Brazil vs Chile at the Maracana. Brazil were leading 1-0, a result which would mean Chile failing to qualify for the World Cup. In the 67th minute a fireworkw as thrown onto the field and Chilean goalkeeper Roberto Rojas went down injured. Chile’s players left the field and refused to continue playing, claiming it was not safe to do so. The match was abandoned. However… when FIFA reviewed video of the incident, they noticed that the firework had made no contact with Rojas, and that the keeper had faked his injury, presumably to try and have the match abandoned and get another shot at Brazil. FIFA disqualified Chile from 1990 World Cup qualifying and also banned them from even attempting to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. 1998 World Cup in FranceAfter the shame of the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, 1998 was all about redemption, and the strike partnership of Marcelo Salas and Ivan Zamorano. Left footed Salas was then of River Plater in Argentina, and moved to Serie A after the tournament. Zamorsno was with Inter, and had previously had a goal filled spell with Real Madrid in La Liga. Basically we’re talking about two of Chile’s all time greats playing not just in the same team, but as an attacking partnership. First game was against old Battle of Santiago opponents Italy. Christian Vieri gave the Azzurri an early lead, but Marcelo Salas poached an equaliezer after a fine header from Zamorano, then Salas put Chile 2-1 ahead with a fine header of his own. The game finished 2-2 after defender Ronald Fuentes was desperately unlucky to have one of those “was it handball or ball to hand?” decisions go against him, with Roberto Baggio scoring the resulting 85th minute penalty. Still, 2-2 against Italy is not a bad result at all. Chile drew 1-1 with Austria in the second game. Salas put La Roja ahead with more assistance from Zamorano, but Austria equalized the 90th minute. Chile also drew their final group game 1-1 with Cameroon, but three points was enough to send them through in second place and into the knockout rounds for the first time since 1962, and the first time ever on European soil. The Round of 16 opponents would be World Cup holders Brazil. Chile had a decent go, but a Ronaldo inspired Brazil ran out 4-1 winners. Marcelo Salas scored again for Chile though, and finished the tournament with a en excellent haul of four goals. More importantly, pride in the Chilean national team was restored. Chile World Cup record: - For more on Chile read Mathias’ Chile blog.
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Chile were present at the first ever World Cup in 1930, but for some reason had a Hungarian manager. György Orth was the Guus Hiddink/Sven Goran Eriksson of his day, coaching multiple national teams (Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Peru). Chile’s performance at the 1930 World Cup was actually very respectable, even though they failed to make it past the First Round.
Chile withdrew from the 1934 and 1938 World Cups, which took place across the ocean in Italy and France respectively. They were back in action for the 1950 tournament though, with a Chilean coach (Arturo Bucciardi) and the excellently named Sergio Livingstone (pictured) in goal, who was also known as “El Sapo” (”The Frog”). Great name, even better nickname. Also in the squad was Universidad Católica attacker Fernando Riera, who would go on to manage the team in 1962.
La Roja failed to qualify for the 1954 and 1958 World Cups, but hit on an excellent solution to that problem by hosting the tournament in 1962 and therefore automatically qualifying.| You are subscribed to email updates from World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010 To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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