Chile fans celebrate win on streets of Nelspruit

Published Jun. 16, 2010 9:17 p.m. ET

foxsports

Hundreds of Chile fans hit the streets of Nelspruit wearing flags and straw sombreros painted in the national colors of red, white and blue to celebrate the national side's first World Cup win in 48 years.

Chile beat Honduras 1-0 Wednesday at the Mbombela stadium for its first World Cup win since beating Yugoslavia to finish third in 1962.

Fans still wearing face paint arrived from the stadium chanting ``Chile! Chile!'' to join fan parties watching the South Africa-Uruguay game on big screens in Nelspruit's parks and streets.

``To win was spectacular,'' said Paula Correa, a 29-year-old engineer from Santiago who was at the stadium. ``We hadn't won for so long in the World Cup but now we're confident we can go far.''

Fellow fan Fernando Radice, a 47-year-old doctor from Santiago, said ``we missed a true striker and we should've won by more goals, but we had faith the team would come through for us.''

The Chilean squad is based in Nelspruit, but plays its remaining Group H games against Switzerland in Port Elizabeth on June 21 and against Spain in Pretoria on June 25.

That means most of the estimated 5,000-plus Chilean fans who watched Wednesday's game will spend a limited time in Nelspruit.

``We've been made to feel at home since we arrived and we'll be sorry to leave, but we are taking some great memories with us,'' said 33-year-old teacher Ricardo Rojas from Santiago.

The victory over Honduras, thanks to Jean Beausejour's 34th-minute goal, led some fans to start eyeing the tournament's later stages.

``If we can avoid Brazil in the second round, then I think we will reach at least the quarterfinals and maybe even the semis,'' said 57-year-old businessman Alberto Tastets, who was wearing a red-white-and-blue sombrero.

Chile's Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa also came in for praise.

``Bielsa had made the Chilean side believe in itself again,'' Tastets said, as he sipped at his beer. ``He's obsessed with his work and he's done a great job with the national side.''