Chile has never been one of the elite South American football clubs, but it has been an often solid performer in international soccer. The team's best finish in the World Cup was as the host nation in 1962, when it wound up in third place in a tournament that was eventually won by Brazil.

In recent years, Chile's national team has been rocked by scandal and plagued by poor play. The most notorious scandal came in 1989 when goalkeeper Roberto Rojas faked an injury from a firecracker hurled onto the field, falsely claiming that it struck him in the head.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8s4NznrWG0 As a result, Chile was banned from the 1994 World Cup and Rojas was banned for life from international soccer.http://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/14/sports/backtalk-the-fall-of-the-condor-chile-s-national-disgrace.html?pagewanted=1

Between 1982 and 2010, Chile made qualified for only a single World Cup, the 1998 tourney in France. There, they made it to the round of 16 thanks to an undefeated group stage, but they were destroyed by eventual finalist Brazil.

Chile comes into the 2010 World Cup riding high after finishing second in the ultra-tough Conmebol qualifying period.http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/team/qualify/_/id/207/chile?cc=3888&ver=global The qualifying period included a 1-0 victory over Argentina, the first World Cup qualifying win over their neighbor in history. This is their first appearance in the World Cup since 1998, and they are ranked 15th in the world, their best ranking in years. As a result, the nation has high hopes for the team, which is affectionately known as El Equipo de Todos, or Everyone's Team.

The Chileans are led by forward Humberto Suazo, who, after years as one of the best players in Mexico, has jumped to Spain's La Liga, and has sparked a significant improvement from Real Zaragoza. The Chilean coach is Marcelo Bielsa, a world-class tactician who also has coached the Argentine national team.

Chile was placed in Group H for the 2010 World Cup, along with Honduras, Switzerland, and Spain. While Spain is top-ranked team in the world and the favorite to win the tourney, Chile is a good bet to make it out of the first round, and has a reasonable hope of making a run into the quarterfinals.