Years Team Name Roberto Rojas Weight 80 kg | Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 1976–1982 Aviacion Role Football player | |
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Full name Roberto Antonio Rojas Saavedra Date of birth (1957-08-08) August 8, 1957 (age 58) | ||
Roberto Rojas' Senior Project FINAL
Roberto Antonio "Condor" Rojas Saavedra (born August 8, 1957, in Santiago) is a retired Chilean football goalkeeper. In 1989 he deliberately injured himself during a World Cup qualifying match in an attempt to avoid a loss by the Chilean national team. The incident resulted in a lifetime ban for Rojas and one World Cup ban for Chile. His ban was subsequently lifted in 2001.
Contents
- Roberto Rojas Senior Project FINAL
- Reportaje a Roberto Rojas
- Career
- 1989 World Cup qualifying incident
- Patricio Yanez
- References
Reportaje a Roberto Rojas
Career
Rojas was born and raised in Chile. He began his career in 1976 with the Chilean club Aviacion. Rojas went on to play for Colo-Colo from 1983 until 1987. With Colo-Colo, Rojas won national titles in 1983 and 1986. In 1987, after a successful performance in the Copa America 1987 championship, he transferred to Brazil's Sao Paulo where he remained until 1989. After his retirement he returned to Sao Paulo to serve as a goalkeeper coach, training Rogerio Ceni. In 2003, Rojas served as interim coach and took the team to the Copa Libertadores for the first time since 1994. He is currently a goalkeeper coach for Brazilian side Sport Club do Recife.
1989 World Cup qualifying incident
In 1989, Rojas was in goal for Chile's 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Brazil at Rio Janeiro's Maracana stadium. Chile, down 1-0, would be eliminated from the upcoming World Cup if they lost. Around the 70-minute mark, Rojas fell to the pitch writhing and holding his forehead. A firework, thrown from the stands by a Brazilian fan named Rosenery Mello do Nascimento, was smoldering about a yard away. Rojas had deliberately cut himself with a razor hidden in his glove in an attempt to have the match nullified and possibly have Brazil penalized by FIFA. Rojas, his head bloodied, was carried off the field; his teammates then refused to return claiming that conditions were unsafe. The match was unfinished.
Video evidence later showed that Rojas had not been hit by the firework. His head injury was discovered to have been self-inflicted with a razor blade hidden in his glove. FIFA awarded Brazil a 2-0 win, effectively eliminating Chile from the 1990 World Cup. As a consequence, Chile was banned from the 1994 FIFA World Cup and Rojas was banned for life, along with the coach Orlando Aravena and the team doctor Daniel Rodriguez.
A Chilean inquiry found that Aravena had ordered Rojas and Rodriguez by walkie-talkie to remain on the ground and that Rojas was to leave the field on a stretcher. The team's co-captain, Fernando Astengo, was banned from football for the next five years for deciding to remove the team from the field.
In 2001, following a request for a pardon, Rojas' ban was lifted by FIFA.
Patricio Yanez
During the Rojas incident, his teammate, Patricio Yanez, under the frustration of believing his team was subject to unfairness, performed a gesture to the Brazilian fans by holding his penis with both of his hands and his middle body slightly bent towards the front in an act of sexual intercourse. The moment was captured by Chilean national television, and as years have passed, the offensive gesture, when repeated or remembered, is known as "Pato Yanez".