Source: These Football Times By James Kelly
With the Chilean national team missing the World Cup finals in Russia, the "golden age" of Chilean football represented by Sanchez and Vidal also came to an end. In the days when this group of players was active, Chile not only reached the Round of 16 of the World Cup twice in a row, but also became the Copa America champion for two consecutive years. In the 1990s, they almost single-handedly reversed the overall trend of Chilean football's rapid decline.
Let's turn the clock back to the 1990s, 20 years after being tossed around by dictator Pinochet, Chile is in a negative state of people's livelihood, and the national team is naturally in a deep trough. After missing the 1986 World Cups in Mexico and Italy in 1990, Chile were embroiled in a bizarre stadium storm and were banned from the 1994 World Cup qualifiers by FIFA.
In a world preliminary match against Brazil, Chilean goalkeeper Rojas took advantage of the chaos on the pitch and deliberately cut himself with a blade he carried, trying to plant a Brazilian and make his opponent directly lose. As a result, after FIFA found out the truth, it issued a global ban to Chile. Therefore, the South American qualifiers for the 1998 Fifa World Cup in France became the "snow shame battle" of Chilean football, and the combination of Iván Zamorano and Marcelo Salas finally brought Chile out of the darkness.
In this pair, Zamorano is older, born in 1967 to a middle-class family in the capital Santiago. From an early age, his family began to encourage Zamorano to pursue his football dreams and fulfill his desire to play for Colo-Colo. His football talent was first discovered by a small club called Corbresal College, and in the 1987 Chilean Cup, Zamorano single-handedly led the mine city team to the crown, and he himself became the top scorer of the event. After another season at home, Zamorano was called upon in European football. After two successful seasons at St. Gallen in Switzerland, Zamorano moved to Sevilla in 1990.
Compared to Zamorano, who took one step at a time, Salas's career started more smoothly. During his training at his hometown club, Temuco Athletic Academy, Salas has become a well-known talented teenager. In 1993, with the help of his father, he joined the capital's giants Universidad de Chile (the second most successful football club in Chilean football) and became a professional footballer here. After three successful seasons at the University of Chile – during which he won the First Division twice – Salas joined Argentine giants River Plate in 1996.
Zamorano
Both players have excellent individual skills, with skilled ball control on both the left and right feet, and can seize the tiniest chance to create goals between lightning stones. In addition, the two also have good air combat ability, and have scored many classic goals in the form of a head mallet in their careers. Salas has a nickname of "Matador" when he plays, because he always has the habit of imitating a matador to bow to the audience after scoring goals; Zamorano is known as "Horror Ivan" in world football for his super goal efficiency. When the two join forces, Zamorano is more accustomed to fixing the movement position in the middle, and the younger Salas will use his physical strength to repeatedly intersperse the left and right sides.
In May 1994, Chile drew 3-3 with Argentina, and the 19-year-old Salas made his debut for the national team and scored a goal as he wished. In his second match for Chile, Salas and Zamorano formed the future famous "Sassa Combination", and it was thanks to goals from Zamorano and Salas that Chile beat Mexico 2-1 in the warm-up match. After witnessing the wonderful performances of the two, the national team coach Askalgota immediately decided to let Zamorano and Salas become the main Indian strikers in the World Preliminary Stage.
Chile almost fell behind in the first match of the 1998 FIFA World Cup South American qualifiers, and with Margas's goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time, Chile barely managed to draw 1-1 away to Venezuela. On 6 July 1996, the 4-1 sweep of Ecuador in Santiago became a goal performance of the "Sassa Group", with the two scoring three goals scored by the home team.
Chile, which won the first qualifying match, lost to Colombia (1-4) and Paraguay (1-2) in the next two rounds, and the qualifying situation became precarious. On 12 November 1996, the match against Uruguay became a turning point, and thanks to Salas's only goal, the Chilean finally stopped the downward trend. Visiting Argentina and Bolivia's Plateau of La Paz, Chile drew 1-1 with the home team.
In the second half of the World Preliminary Round, the great moment to witness the full firepower of the "Sassa Combination", in the home 6-0 victory over Venezuela, "Ivan the Terror" actually scored 5 goals in one go, which also made him stand out instantly and become the top scorer of the World Preliminary Round in South America. Again against Ecuador, Chile relied on a key header scored by Salas to take a point away from home.
In the process of Chile's journey to France, we almost all see are the "two-person turn" staged by two people. Salas scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 victory over Colombia; Zamorano scored twice in a 2-1 win over Paraguay; and A 4-0 victory over Peru, Salas wore the hat again. Although Chile also lost to Uruguay and Argentina during this period, in the final round of the qualifiers, they lost Bolivia 3-0, and Chile still got a long-lost World Cup ticket as the fourth place in the South American region.
In the South American World Cup top scorers list, Zamorano (12 goals) and Salas (11 goals) occupy the top two places with dominant performances, and third-place Colombian Asprila has only scored 7 goals. To help the Twins prepare for the World Cup in France, Chile was invited to Wembley Stadium in February 1998 for a warm-up match against England. As a result, in that match, Salas completely shocked the British with his two-stroke performance.
He received a long pass from teammate Sheila, scored a volley without any adjustments, and was hailed as one of Wembley's most classic goals in more than 100 years. At that time, Salas was not only passionate about the national team, but also played for Lazio at his peak, and his compatriot Zamorano was also a member of inter's account. After scoring one goal each in another warm-up match against Uruguay, the "Sasa combination" has already aimed its crosshairs at the three opponents in the World Cup group stage.
The three teams are Austria, Cameroon and Italy. Although this was Chile's debut in the World Cup after the 1982 World Cup in Spain, they still managed to advance to the round of 16. In the first round of the group stage against Italy, Salas scored twice with the assistance of Zamorano and Reyes, proving that the £16 million transfer fee paid by Lazio was well worth it. Unfortunately, at the last moment of the game, Robert Baggio's brilliance turned the Chilean victory into a draw.
In the ensuing match against Austria, Salas relied on his keen sense of goalscoring – the Austrian goalkeeper had blocked Zamorano's header, but was scored by Salas – and won his third goal in the World Cup. In the end, Chile drew 1-1 with their opponents. The third match of the group stage against Cameroon was a draw (1-1, Siella scored a goal), but three points was still enough to ensure that Chile advanced to the knockout round as the second in the group.
In the quarter-finals, the Chilean suffered the defending champion Brazil. Although Salas scored another goal (Zamorano's header was blocked by the Brazilian goalkeeper and Salas scored in), it was still shrouded in the glow emanating from Ronaldo. The score of 1-4 made the Chilean lose convincingly.
At the Copa America in Paraguay in 1999, the "Sassa Group" once again joined hands to play for the country. Although Chile lost to Mexico and Brazil in the group stage, Chile advanced to the quarter-finals thanks to a 3-0 win over Venezuela. Zamorano, who had been in a dud at the World Cup the previous year, had a star at this tournament, scoring goals against Venezuela, Colombia and Uruguay.
After sending Colombia 3-2 in the quarter-finals, Chile met Uruguay in the semi-finals. The two teams were tied in regular time, with Chile losing 3-5 in a penalty shootout. The third-place battle again met Mexico, with Chile losing again 2-1 in Salas's absence.
Since then, for various reasons, the influence of the "Sasa Combination" in the international arena has gradually declined. In the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, Chile even finished at the bottom of the South American zone with an ugly record of 3 wins, 3 draws and 12 losses. Zamorano withdrew from the national team during the World Cup, leaving Salas alone.
After entering the new century, Salas's development at the club also entered a bottleneck period, gradually losing the main position in Lazio, and then being sold to Juve. The two seasons for Juve were the lowest points in Chilean career (four goals scored in two seasons). In 2013 he simply bid farewell to Europe and returned to the riverbed. Two years later, Salas returned to the beginning of his career, the University of Chile, and played until 2008, when he announced his retirement.
Although the two have not won any major honors together in their careers, the "Chilean Doubles" cannot be underestimated in the historical low position of world football. It can be said that in the eyes of a generation of fans, it is thanks to the existence of Zamorano and Salas that Chile has officially been included in the territory of the football world. It is no exaggeration to say that thanks to the "Sassa combination", Chilean football was reborn at the end of the last century.