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Our first opponent in the group stage of this year’s World Cup is Chile. La Roja or ‘The Red One’ have a fine World Cup pedigree, having come third when it hosted the competition in 1962 and having acquitted itself well last World Cup, progressing into the second round from a reasonably tough group.
Chile has arrived in Brazil with a strong squad, but today I would like to re-visit the last time Chile kicked-off a World Cup campaign with a bit of hype behind them. That time was 1998 when the Za-Sa show came to town.
The nickname Za-Sa referred to Chile’s excellent and prolific strike partnership at the time, made up of Iván Zamorano and Marcelo Salas.
Zamorano was the captain of the team, had won a La Liga championship with Real Madrid and had just spent two seasons with Inter. His goal scoring record with Real was top shelf, as was his international record.
Salas had made a name for himself at River Plate and on the eve of the 1998 World Cup had been sold to Lazio for US$18 million, where he enjoyed some success.
Remarkably, the number of internationals and goals scored by both strikers almost mirror each other.
Heading into the 1998 World Cup, their fame as a strike partnership preceded them and they generated much excitement. Za-Sa played as an old fashioned number 9 and 11 pairing at a time when managers had gone, or were about to go, to single striker formations.
It might be worth noting that coming into the 1998 World Cup, Chile defeated England 2-0 in Wembley with Salas scoring both goals. A portent perhaps?
Chile’s first game in 1998 was against Italy, who were runners-up the previous World Cup and as usual, expectations were high for another strong showing. It proved to be an entertaining encounter.
The first goal of the game comes from a long ball out of defence which Baggio hits first time, putting it in front of Vieri who doesn’t have to break stride, and he just manages to put it past Tapia. If you ever need to be reminded of the sheer efficiency of a long ball game – simply play that video.
It’s sometimes forgotten by many that Italy can play the long ball as well as anyone in the world when the opportunity presents itself, with the emphasis being on vision, decision-making, accuracy, perfectly timed runs and execution.
Watching the video I was reminded that the Divine Ponytail wore number 18 for this World Cup. Who got the number 10? None other than our very own Alessandro Del Piero!
Chile score the next two goals from corner situations, either side of half time. Zamorano helps set up the first by attacking the ball with a firm header which ricochets to Salas who gets a foot in just ahead of his marker. In both cases Za-Sa have had to compete with some tight marking from experienced Italian defenders.
With the second goal, Salas gets to the ball just ahead of Cannavaro, and is able to beat Pagliuca with a looping header from outside the six-yard box, just sneaking inside the upright, relying more on direction than pace.
Italy were very lucky to receive a penalty late in the game and Baggio was able to tie it up for the Azzurri, denying Chile the three points they had probably earned on balance.
Chile ended up progressing that year by way of further draws against Austria and Cameroon, but met Brazil in the second round where they lost 4-1 (echoes of the last World Cup when Brazil defeated Chile 3-0 in the second round).
Salas was equal third goal scorer in 1998 with four goals, alongside Ronaldo and Luis Hernandez.
Here’s hoping we can pull of something special when our opening match comes, just as Za-Sa were able to do back in 1998.
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