Roberto Rojas

Roberto Rojas
Roberto Rojas (2013)
Personnel
Surname	Roberto Antonio Rojas Saavedra
birthday	August 8, 1957
place of birth	Santiago ,  Chile
position	goalkeeper
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
? –1983	Deportes Aviación
1983-1987	Colo Colo Santiago
1987-1989	Sao Paulo FC
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1983-1989	Chile	49 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Roberto Antonio Rojas Saavedra (born August 8, 1957 in Santiago de Chile ) is a former Chilean football goalkeeper . Rojas was a national player and achieved dubious notoriety in 1989 because of a self-inflicted injury in the World Cup qualifier against Brazil : the player called " Cóndor " received a lifelong ban for his unsportsmanlike conduct .

Club career

As a professional, Rojas played at Club de Deportes Aviación from the Región Metropolitana Santiago ; from 1983 to 1987 he guarded the gate at the capital club Colo Colo , with which he won the Chilean championship in 1983 and 1986. In 1987, at the Copa America, those responsible for the Brazilian first division club São Paulo became aware of him, who then signed him. Here he stayed until the end of his career two years later.

National team

Rojas celebrated its successes in La Roja in the second half of the 1980s. With Chile he took part in the qualifying rounds for the World Championships in 1986 and 1990 ; at the Copa America 1987 he lost with Chile only in the final with 0-1 against Uruguay .

On September 3, 1989, Rojas was in the Chilean goal in the decisive qualifier for the World Cup in Italy. In Maracana Chile played against Brazil . Only with one win would Chile have qualified for the World Cup. Around the 67th minute of the game, Rosenery Mello threw a firework from the spectator stands onto the field. Rojas fell to the ground and held his bleeding head. He was carried off the pitch, his teammates refused to continue playing - the match was abandoned.

A video later proved that the fireworks hadn't hit Rojas at all. He had inflicted his bleeding injury on himself with a razor blade smuggled onto the pitch in a goalkeeper's glove for this purpose . The FIFA awarded the match with 2: 0 for Brazil, Chile was therefore not qualified for the World Cup 1990th Chile was also suspended for the 1994 World Cup in the USA, and the Chilean Football Association was fined 100,000 Swiss francs. Rojas was banned for life. After the goalkeeper initially denied, he confessed to attempting fraud in May 1990. In 2001 his ban was lifted after a pardon.

Web links

• Una luz de bengala ( Memento of December 6, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), report on the incident of the feigned injury, at TVN