August 23 - Chilavert Mouths Off

TODAY we bring you more musings from that lunatics lunatic, former Paraguayan goalkeeper José Luis Chilavert.

A penalty and free-kick specialist, we have already told you about the match in which he scored a hat-trick, but today in 2001 he was under fire for spitting at Roberto Carlos from extreme close range after a crucial World Cup qualification match between Brazil and Paraguay.

Banged to rights and backed into a corner, Chilavert came out fighting and rather than try to diffuse the situation he went in for some breeze-block diplomacy, and accused Carlos of being a ‘provoker’ and a ‘dwarf’, before stirring up some age-old political differences between the two nations.

Chilavert said: “At the first corner kick, after he [Roberto Carlos] was called for a foul, this dwarf shouted to me: ‘Get up, Indian’. After that, when they scored he touched his genitals to provoke me.

“When the match was going to end he pointed to the scoreboard and when the game ended and we were going to greet each other he told me: ‘Indian, we have won 2-0, you are a disaster’ and he hit me.

“That’s when I defended myself and I spat at him.”

Chilavert, who was captain of his country, added: “Everyone in football knows that Roberto Carlos is a provoker. He always does the same and after that he does not recognise his mistake and says he is innocent.”

The match was always likely to boil over after a frenzied build up to what was a key game for both teams. In their usual calm and measured manner, the media had hyped up the clash to cataclysmic levels of fever pitch, with Brazil struggling in their bid to make the 2002 finals and continue their record of being the only country to participate at every World Cup.

Just to stoke the fires a bit more, during the build up, Roberto Carlos called Paraguay a “small” team, while Brazilian coach Big Phil Scolari told his team to target Chilavert, saying he was his country’s weakest link.

Chilavert brilliantly responded by demanding that if Brazil were going to treat the game like a war, they should hand back land taken from Paraguay back in the 19th century. “The Brazilians started the war,” he said.

In the end, both countries qualified for the tournament in Japan and South Korea, with Brazil going all the way to lift the trophy. For his phlegmmy antics Chilavert was handed a three match ban and Paraguay were forced to play without their captain for their group matches. He returned for their second round clash, but couldn’t prevent a 1-0 defeat to eventual finalists Germany.

Here is the whole spitting image caught on camera, including some delightful slow-mo replays. Nice.
More tomorrow, and click here if you want to see who else was being naughty on this day in football history.

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