Bolivia regained hope of reaching the World Cup 2026 with a 4-0 win this Thursday Venezuelafor the seventh date of the South American Qualifiers and which marked the debut of its El Alto stadium, at 4,150 meters above sea level, for World Cup qualification.
The goals were scored by Ramiro Vaca (13), Carmelo Algarañaz (45+5), Miguel Terceros (46) and Enzo Monteiro (89).
With this result, La Verde climbed to seventh position with six points, while Venezuela remains in fourth place, with a direct ticket.
Bolivia, as anticipated in training, pressed hard from the first minutes, seeking the psychological effect that a high altitude stadium, even more so the one in Villa Ingenio de El Alto, provokes.
Without much precision, the Bolivians turned towards Rafael Romo’s goal.
The reward came early, in the 13th minute, with a powerful shot from about 25 metres by forward Ramiro Vaca. The efforts of Venezuelan goalkeeper Rafael Romo to prevent his goal from falling were in vain.
This gave Bolivia more encouragement to continue attacking, through Vaca and Carmelo Algarañaz, as spearheads to add numbers.
The Vinotinto reacted through their top scorer Salomón Rondón to try to unbalance the score, but the Bolivians maintained their concentration to avoid any surprises.
At the end of the first half (45+5), the Altiplano team added a second goal via penalty. Algarañaz was precise in the execution, he shot low and to the right of Romo, while he was running in the opposite direction.
Going into the break with a two-goal lead was encouraging for the team led by debutant coach Oscar Villegas.
Fernando Batista’s team did not show all the quality of play they had shown up until the current pre-World Cup round at the Villa Ingenio stadium.
To the surprise of everyone, Bolivia increased the score again at 46, just after the second half had begun.
Miguel Terceros beat goalkeeper Romo for the third time, after a series of passes between Venezuelan legs.
Helmsman Batista made several changes to his ranks to change the unrecognizable face that had been there until then, including his skilled Yeferson Soteldo.
The Verde’s sharp attacks continued unabated, while the Vinotinto defense made every effort to dismantle the local attacks.
Bolivia continued to crush the Venezuelans to reach fourth place. They were closer to adding to the numbers than their rivals were to making a difference.
And the fourth came through Enzo Monteiro, when the visiting team was running out of goals, unable to stop the Altiplano team who took advantage of everything in their favor to win.
In the end, the Bolivians happily drank red wine at altitude, as they were expecting a team that did not show all it is. This same Villa Ingenio venue will probably be the same one to welcome Colombia on October 10.
Bolivia has earned its second win in these qualifiers, having previously beaten Peru 2-0 at home last November.
In addition, they maintained their home-field superiority over the Vinotinto, who only won away (1-0) in 2009.
Next Tuesday, Bolivia will visit Chile in Santiago, while Venezuela will host Uruguay in Maturín.
Bolivia vs Venezuela summary for South American qualifiers
Source: Ambito
