3 infamous controversies in the World Cup

#1 El Maracanazo (1990)

Roberto Rojas

1990 World Cup and its qualifying tournament was perhaps the most controversial of all. If things would have gone according to Chile's plans, then it would have cost Brazil qualification to the 1990 World Cup.

Argentina was the holder and hence had an automatic qualification for the World Cup. The remaining teams contested for the remaining berths. Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela were in the same group. After three matches, both Chile and Brazil had 5 points, and Chile needed to defeat Brazil to ensure automatic qualification from the group.

The match saw Brazilian Careca score a goal in the 49th minute, but the controversy began when the Chilean goalkeeper Roberto Rojas fell into the ground in the 67th minute, pretending to be hurt by a flare thrown by the Brazilian fans. The Chilean players and officials left the pitch immediately in protest.

The CONMEBOL went on to review the incident on TV which revealed that the flare did not hit Rojas and landed a meter away from the Chilean. Even his injury had no traces of gunpowder or burn marks. Instead, it was a clean cut.

On questioning, Rojas gave in. He went on to reveal that he had cut himself with a blade hidden in his gloves to cause a scandal. Chilean coach Orlando Aravena was the mastermind behind all this and wanted to nullify the results and have a rematch on neutral soil or see through the disqualification of Brazil.

FIFA banned keeper Rojas and barred Chile from participating in the 1994 qualifying tournament as a punishment. FIFA even went on to declare Brazil the winners of the match with an official scoreline of 2-0.