Obituary for Chile's national coach Orlando Aravena: The Maracana fraudster

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Roberto Roja was part of a major fraud by Orlando Aravena

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Jose Duran/AFP

Orlando Aravena didn't leave much of a mark on world football as a coach. He has coached numerous clubs in his homeland, solid but not outstanding. However, he was also national coach of Chile for two years from 1987 to 1989. And it was during this time that a story occurred that suddenly made him famous, or rather infamous, in world football.

Orlando Aravena, who died in Santiago on Thursday at the age of 81, was one of the key figures in the game that even got its own name:

El Maracanazo

. A game with one of the most bizarre attempts at cheating ever seen in international football.

Crime scene: the legendary Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Time of crime: September 3, 1989. The decisive World Cup qualifier between Brazil and Chile begins.

Chile had to win

The starting position for Aravena's team is tricky. Brazil and Chile are tied at the top of the qualifying group for the 1990 World Cup. However, the Brazilians have the better goal difference, so Chile definitely needs a win in the final game in Rio, a draw would not have been enough. The pressure on the coach is immense: Chile has not taken part in a world tournament since 1974. If you don't qualify for the World Cup now, when will you?

The game went back and forth for a half, goalless at the break, and shortly after the restart, Brazil's superstar Cáreca took the 1-0 lead. The Chileans saw their hopes dwindling when the seemingly unexpected happened in the 67th minute: a firecracker from the stands landed in the Chileans' penalty area. Their goalkeeper Roberto Rojas, known as El Condor, then collapses. When he stands up again and the smoke has cleared a little, you can see it: Rojas is bleeding all over his face. The situation escalates.

The audience provokes

The Chileans are raging, coach Aravena is gesticulating wildly on the field and getting his players together. Attacker Patricio Yanez provokes the host fans by grabbing their genitals right in front of their corner. The gesture became so well known that from now on it was called “Pato Yanez” in Chile.

Led by the coach and team captain Fernando Astengo, the visiting players leave the field, refusing to continue the game. Even referee Juan Carlos Loustau fails to persuade the mutinous Chileans to continue playing. The game is canceled. Tumults.

However, video footage of the incident raised doubts that same evening as to whether it really happened as the Chilean side tried to portray it. Television pictures clearly show that the firecracker hit next to Rojas, so he couldn't have sustained a head wound. And anyway: Why was Rojas bleeding so much but had no burns?

The razor blade trick

The suspicion that things were not going well here is confirmed after FIFA and the South American association Conmebol started investigations. At some point Rojas has to admit that he took advantage of the situation. And in a way that sounded almost unbelievable: he had pocketed a razor blade during the break and hidden it under his goalkeeper's glove. In consultation and on the instructions of coach Aravena, he saw his chance come in the 67th minute when everything was covered in smoke. He pulled out the blade, cut his face once, the blood flowed freely, and Rojas rolled on the ground to simulate that the missile had hit him.

The whole thing was a soap opera, and Aravena was the mastermind behind the story. Captain Astengo and team doctor Daniel Rodriguez were also in the know.

With the cancellation, Aravena wanted to force a replay to be scheduled on neutral ground or even to force the score in Chile's favor. Things turned out differently. The game was ultimately scored 2-0 for Brazil, Aravena, Rojas and Rodriguez were initially banned for life, but their sentences were later reduced. Orlando Aravena's coaching career ended abruptly.

»Send him to the wasteland!«

Instead of the Chileans, Brazil went to the World Cup, and the referee Loustau was also rewarded for his careful behavior by being allowed to whistle at the World Cup - and thus became famous in Germany. After he sent the spitting Frank Rijkaard and his victim Rudi Völler off the pitch with a red card in the round of 16 between the Beckenbauer team and the Netherlands and ARD live reporter Heribert Fassbender and TV expert Karl-Heinz Rummenigge foamed with anger and chauvinism at the Argentine wanted to send them “to the pampas”.

But it wasn't just him who became famous, but also the person who threw the fireworks. Until that evening, 24-year-old Rosenery Mello do Nascimento was an unknown public utility employee. She then pursued a career as a model, landed on the cover of the Brazilian “Playboy” and lost her nickname: “Fogueteira do Maracanã”. The cracker from Maracana.