Chilean keeper’s injury ‘fake’

Press, 6 September 1989, Page 33

Chilean keeper’s injury ‘fake’

NZPA-Reuter Rio de Janeiro Brazilian soccer officials have accused Chile of faking an injury to its goalkeeper, Roberto Rojas, in a deciding World Cup qualifying tie against Brazil. Eurico Miranda, the vicepresident of the Brazilian Football Federation (C.8.F.), said Chile — 1-0 down when the match was abandoned after an incident in the sixtyninth minute — was looking for the slightest reason to walk out. “Everybody could see that Rojas was faking. The Chileans were only seeking a way out. They knew they could not beat us, so they made all this scene.” Mr Miranda said he was confident the International Football Federation (F.1.F.A.) would rule that Brazil had won the match. "We have even decided to pay the

SUSIS.OOO (5NZ25.000) bonus prize each of our players will get for winning the group and the berth for the World Cup finals," he said. The Brazilian team doctor, Lidio Toledo, said he saw his Chilean counterpart “spill mercurochrome all over his (Rojas’) face to pretend it was blood.” When a flare was thrown from the 140,000-crowd during the clash at the Maracana stadium, Rojas fell to the ground but witnesses said the flare landed several metres from him. Brazil, needing only a draw to win South American group three and a place in next year’s World Cup finals in Italy, led 1-0 through a forty-ninth-minute goal by Careca. F.1.F.A., based in Zurich, is expected to rule on the match after studying a report from the Argentine referee, Juan Carlos Loustau.