Oscar Villegas: "It hurts a lot not to have won this game"

Bolivia’s coach, Óscar Villegas, acknowledged this Tuesday that it was painful to lose a 2-2 draw to Paraguay in El Alto, although he clarified that they must “raise their heads” because the team, mostly youth, has a future.

“There was an effort, there was an intention to play that was acceptable and it hurts us a lot not to have won this match,” said Villegas in the press conference after the match on the twelfth round of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup played at ‘el Titán de Villa Ingenio’, at more than 4,000 meters of altitude.

He admitted that his team lacked “Manage the game” on the two occasions in which Bolivia was ahead.

“And in some cases that administration passes a bit due to experience, due to the youth of our players, of losing in details,” he said.

Villegas considered that La Verde should have finished the first half with at least one more score and that they were able to close the match after Miguel Terceros’ penalty goal that made the score 2-1 in the second half.

He stated that they faced “a great team”, with “higherarchy” players who play in big leagues, although he also highlighted that under his command Bolivia was “close to having had a better campaign than Paraguay did”, led by the Argentine Gustavo Alfaro.

“If we controlled that 2-1 a little more and finished with three points, we were ending our campaign with 12 points and Paraguay would have been left with 11 in the era of its new coach,” he noted.

Under Villegas’ command, Bolivia added 10 points in six games, including a victory on their visit to Chile.

The coach also maintained that the Bolivian team is young and is going to make mistakes, although he also highlighted that the ten-year project that he has designed for the Bolivian teams, including the senior team, is intact.

“We have to raise our heads and move forward, because these young people have a lot of growing to do,” he concluded.

Villegas, who came to the Green bench in July after Bolivia’s disappointing campaign in the Copa América, pointed out that they are already thinking about the next qualifying matches, in which Bolivia will visit Peru and host Uruguay in March 2025.

After the tie with Paraguay, La Verde occupies seventh place in the standings with 13 points, awaiting the conclusion of all the matches of the twelfth day.