History of the Chile national football team

On October 12, 1926, Chile made the first corner-kick goal in Copa América history in a match against Bolivia.

At the first ever FIFA World Cup held in Uruguay in 1930, Chile was among the thirteen nations invited to participate in the tournament.

Chilean manager, Francisco Hormazabal, resigned shortly before the event and was replaced by Luis Alamos.

However, FIFA refused to switch the match to a neutral venue, so the Chilean players kicked off on an otherwise empty pitch, and scored into the unguarded USSR net, and because there was no opposition to restart the game, the referee awarded the match to Chile, ensuring they qualified for the 1974 finals.

At the tournament itself, Chile lost their opening game 1–0 to West Germany in Berlin, thanks to a long-range shot from Paul Breitner.

Martin Hoffmann put East Germany ahead, but Sergio Ahumada equalised with 20 minutes left.

At the 1982 World Cup, the Chileans performed poorly with an aging team in which Carlos Caszely and the 35-year-old central defender Elias Figueroa were still the main men.

Guided by coach Luis Santibañez, they lost their first game 1–0 to Austria in Oviedo, Walter Schachner scoring the only goal midway through the first half.

[5] Chile were then beaten 4–1 in Gijón by West Germany, Gustavo Moscoso scoring a late consolation goal.

Finally, against Algeria, Chile were overrun in the first half and went in at half-time 3–0 behind, but managed to save some face with second-half goals from Miguel Neira and Juan Carlos Letelier.

At a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying match at Rio de Janeiro's Maracanã stadium, Brazil led Chile 1–0 and La Roja needed to win.

A firework had been thrown from the stands by a Brazilian fan named Rosenery Mello do Nascimento[8] and was smouldering about a yard away.

After Rojas was carried off the pitch, the Chilean players and coaches claimed that conditions were not safe and they refused to return, so the match was abandoned.

With much expected of their strike partnership of Marcelo Salas and Iván Zamorano, Chile drew with Italy in Bordeaux in their opening match, 2–2, with Salas scoring both goals in reply to Christian Vieri's opener,[10] before Roberto Baggio's late penalty equalizer for Italy.

[11] Against Cameroon in Nantes five days later, José Luis Sierra's free-kick gave Chile the lead, but the Africans fought back and equalised with a header from Patrick Mboma.

[16] In the second game Chile defeated Switzerland, with the decisive goal scored by South African born Mark González.

The match was tied 1–1 after 90 minutes and no further goals were scored in extra time, although Chile struck the woodwork in the dying moments.

They lost 3–0 to rivals Peru in the semi-finals, and finished the tournament in fourth after defeat to Argentina in the third place match.