The Football Tragic

The decision by Chilean officials to send a squad of over-age players to the continental junior tournament in 1979 necessitated some sleight-of-hand with the documentation. In short, with the help of a pliable tourist agency and an equally malleable Civic Registry official, the new attendees at the national training complex were issued with faked identity cards, with which they obtained false passports.

One small problem with this was that those under 21 required permission from their parents to travel abroad. Many players in the new squad were over 21, despite the 19 years and 6 months age limit (one player was nearly 23), and ended up forging their parents' signatures, in the interests of secrecy. One player, Agustin Villazón, scribbled his father's name in the appropriate box despite Señor Villazón snr. having passed away some time earlier.

Not everyone went along with the fraud. Two players called up for the over-age squad prudently withdrew after considering the implications, while the forward Hector Hoffens was fortunate to have as his coach at the Universitário club the eminence grise of Chilean football, Fernando Riera. Riera, coach of the Chilean side which gained third place at the 1962 World Cup, threatened to sack Hoffens from Universitário if he went along with "the farce".

The only journalist travelling with the team, Carlos Jimeno of the Santiago daily La Tercera, was an ex-footballer himself and knew all about the skullduggery. He, like the others, had been convinced to stay quiet, accepting the "explanation" that all the other teams would be fielding over-age players too. 

The tournament in Uruguay was divided into two groups, and the Chileans were in the group based in the small town of Paysandu, on the border with Argentina. The other group, based in Montevideo, was the centre of attention, including as it did the hosts, with their promising playmaker Ruben Paz, and a star-studded Argentinian team which featured a certain Diego Maradona.

Chile, it seemed, had avoided the heavyweights. Yet if Garcia hoped to get an edge over his opponents with his squad-switching, he was in for a terrible shock. In Chile's first game against Paraguay, the latter's forward pairing of Roberto Cabañas and Julio Romero - later to combine impressively at the 1986 World Cup - took Chile apart. Paraguay won 6-0.

Perhaps, ironically, the more mature age of the Chilean players was one of the factors in the drubbing. On the eve of the match, a delegation of players had approached Garcia for leave to visit the post office to send letters to their families. Garcia granted permission, but Jimeno smelled a rat. Sure enough, with the assistance of a local journalist, he discovered the truth: the players had trooped off to the town's brothel.

Chile lost the next match 1-0 to Brazil, and their chance of qualifying for the Under-20 World Cup was already gone. On the upside, such a miserable campaign would normally have obviated any suspicion regarding age-fiddling.

But then came one of the most spectacular own goals in football history - and it was not scored on the field. To be continued in Part 4.

# posted by Mike Salter @ 12:45 PM