1990 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)

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The South American ( CONMEBOL) zone of qualification for the 1990 FIFA World Cup saw 9 teams competing for 2 direct places at the finals, with one extra place potentially on offer to the winner of a play-off. CONMEBOL member Argentina qualified automatically as reigning World Cup champions.

Format

Teams were divided into 3 groups of 3 teams each. The teams would play against each other on a home-and-away basis. The 2 group winners with the best record would qualify. The group winner with the worst record would advance to the CONMEBOL / OFC Intercontinental Play-off.

Draw

The draw for the qualifying groups took place in Zürich, Switzerland on 12 December 1987. During the draw teams were drawn from 3 seeded pots into the 3 qualifying groups.

Pot A	Pot B	Pot C
Brazil   Paraguay   Uruguay	Chile   Colombia   Peru	Bolivia   Ecuador   Venezuela

Group 1

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   Uruguay 4 3 0 1 7 2 +5 6   Bolivia 4 3 0 1 6 5 +1 6   Peru 4 0 0 4 2 8 −6 0

BOL – 2–1 2–1   PER 1–2 – 0–2   URU 2–0 2–0 –

Uruguay qualified with the second-best record among the group winners.

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Group 2

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   Colombia 4 2 1 1 5 3 +2 5   Paraguay 4 2 0 2 6 7 −1 4   Ecuador 4 1 1 2 4 5 −1 3

COL – 2–0 2–1   ECU 0–0 – 3–1   PAR 2–1 2–1 –

Colombia advanced to the CONMEBOL / OFC Intercontinental Play-off with the worst record among the group winners.

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Group 3

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   Brazil 4 3 1 0 13 1 +12 7   Chile 4 2 1 1 9 4 +5 5   Venezuela 4 0 0 4 1 18 −17 0

BRA – 2–0 6–0   CHI 1–1 – 5–0   VEN 0–4 1–3 –

Brazil qualified with the best record among the group winners.

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¹ The match was abandoned in the 67th minute with Brazil leading 1–0 after Chile walked off the field when a firecracker thrown from the crowd supposedly hit goalkeeper Roberto Rojas in the head, leaving him bloodied and having to be carried from the pitch on a stretcher; a subsequent FIFA investigation found that Rojas's injury was self-inflicted, using a razor blade concealed in his glove. On 13 September, the match was awarded 2–0 to Brazil, and Chile were banned from qualifying for the next World Cup. Rojas was given a lifetime ban from competitive football (lifted in 2001), as was Chile manager Orlando Aravena, vice-captain Fernando Astengo and team doctor Daniel Rodriguez.

Inter-confederation play-offs

The winner of this play-off qualified for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Colombia	1–0	Israel	1–0	0–0

Qualified teams

The following four teams from CONMEBOL qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup 1
Argentina	Defending champions	29 June 1986	9 ( 1930, 1934, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986)
Uruguay	Group 1 winners	24 September 1989	8 ( 1930, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1986)
Brazil	Group 3 winners	13 September 1989	13 ( 1930, 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986)
Colombia	CONMEBOL-OFC playoff winners	30 October 1989	1 ( 1962)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Goalscorers

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Notes

External links

• South American zone at FIFA.com