The

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

n ( CONMEBOL) zone of

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

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 Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

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 , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

, Switzerland on 12 December 1987. During the draw teams were drawn from 3 seeded pots into the 3 qualifying groups.

Group 1

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

Group 2

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

Group 3

Brazil qualified with the best record among the group winners. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 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 Fernando Enrique Astengo Sánchez (born 8 January 1960) is a former footballer and current manager. Career During his years as footballer he played as centre back, position which was well considered after being featured in 1988's America Idea ...

and team doctor Daniel Rodriguez.

Inter-confederation play-offs

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

Qualified teams

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

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

Goalscorers

;5 goals *

Careca Antônio de Oliveira Filho (born 5 October 1960), better known as Careca (), is a Brazilian former footballer, who was deployed as a forward. During his career, Careca played for several clubs, most notably with Italian side Napoli. He also r ...

Rubén Sosa Ruben Sosa Ardaiz (born 25 April 1966) is a Uruguayan former professional football forward. He was a member of the Uruguay national team and a plethora of clubs around the world. Club career Born in Montevideo, Sosa started his career in Dan ...

;4 goals *

Arnoldo Iguarán Arnoldo Alberto Iguarán Zúñiga (born 18 January 1957), also known as ''El Guajiro'', is a Colombian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He earned 68 caps for the Colombia national team between 1979 and 1993, playing at ...

;3 goals * Juan Carlos Letelier ;2 goals *

Bebeto José Roberto Gama de Oliveira (born 16 February 1964), known as Bebeto (), is a Brazilian former professional football player who played as a forward. He entered politics in the 2010 Brazilian General Elections and was elected to the Le ...

* Jorge Aravena * Raúl Aviles * Javier Ferreira ;1 goal * José Milton Melgar * Tito Montaño * Álvaro Peña * William Ramallo *

Erwin Sánchez Erwin Sánchez Freking (born 19 October 1969) is a Bolivian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder with scoring range, and is the current manager of Oriente Petrolero. Dubbed ''Platini'',Branco * Romário *

Paulo Silas Paulo Silas do Prado Pereira (born 27 August 1965), also known as Paulo Silas, Silas Pereira or simply Silas, is a Brazilian football pundit, coach, and former professional player. A former central midfielder, he is now a television pundit ...

Ivo Basay Ivo Alexie Basay Hatibović (born 13 April 1966) is a Chilean football manager and former player who played as a striker. Apart from being a regular choice for the Chile national football team in the late 1980s and early 1990s (24 caps, six g ...

* Jaime Vera *

Patricio Yáñez Patricio Nazario Yáñez Candia (born January 20, 1961) is a Chilean former footballer who played as a forward. Club career Yáñez began his career in 1977 with San Luis and won the Copa Apertura Segunda División and Chilean Segunda Divi ...

Iván Zamorano Iván Luis Zamorano Zamora (; born 18 January 1967) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is regarded as one of Chile's most recognized footballers, along with Marcelo Salas, Leonel Sánchez and Elias Figuer ...

* Rubén Darío Hernández * Albeiro Usuriaga *

Álex Aguinaga Álex Dario Aguinaga Garzón (, born 9 July 1969) is an Ecuadorian former professional football player and manager. A midfielder during his playing career, he is one of the all-time cap leaders for Ecuador with 109 matches, scoring 23 goals. Ag ...

* Pietro Marsetti *

Roberto Cabañas Roberto Cabañas González (11 April 1961 – 9 January 2017) was a Paraguayan footballer who played as a forward. Career During his career, Cabañas played for Cerro Porteño of Paraguay, Stade Brestois and Olympique Lyonnais of France, t ...

José Luis Chilavert José Luis Félix Chilavert González (; born 27 July 1965) is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Sportivo Luqueño, Guaraní, San Lorenzo de Almagro, Real Zaragoza, Vélez Sarsfield, RC Strasbourg, ...

* Alfredo Mendoza *

Gustavo Neffa Gustavo Alfredo Neffa Rodríguez (born 30 November 1971 in Asunción) is a retired footballer from Paraguay. He started his career on Olimpia Asunción, and at the age of 18, noted by Juventus, Neffa moved on loan to Serie A club U.S. Cremone ...

* Andrés Aurelio González *

José del Solar José Guillermo del Solar Alvarez-Calderón (born 28 November 1967) is a Peruvian football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. During his playing career, spent in four countries – mainly in Spain, where he amassed ...

* Antonio Alzamendi *

Enzo Francescoli Enzo Francescoli Uriarte (; born 12 November 1961), nicknamed "El Príncipe" ("The Prince"), is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a attacking midfielder. He is regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and as one of ...

* Ildemaro Fernández ;1 own goal * Hugo González (playing against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

) * Alfonso Domínguez (playing against Bolivia) * Pedro Acosta (playing against

)

Notes

External links

South American zone
at FIFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:1990 Fifa World Cup Qualification (Conmebol) CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...