Bolivia sinks Gareca's Chile - Latin america News

Bolivia defeated this Tuesday by 1-2 Chili away and dealt a hard blow to their World Cup aspirations by giving flight to their own, after the eighth date of the qualifying round World Cup 2026In the first half of the match played at the National Stadium in Santiago, La Verde took the lead with a goal from Carmelo Algarañaz while Eduardo Vargas tied the game and Miguel Terceros scored the winning goal for Bolivia.

The away win in the World Cup qualifiers, which the Altiplano team had not achieved for 31 years, put Oscar Villegas’ team in seventh place in the standings with nine points, the last place that gives access to the play-offs, while Chile remains second to last with five. Bolivia took six points in the double round, after beating Venezuela 4-0 at home last Thursday, and Chile none after losing to Argentina 3-0.

The National Stadium, which was not full due to a sanction imposed by FIFA that reduced the capacity, had a silenced and frustrated Chilean fan base, which in the end sang in an attempt to encourage a draw. Bolivia gave the first blow, at 13 minutes, with a goal by forward Carmelo Algarañaz, who took advantage of a ball in the middle served by Roberto Carlos Fernández.

The team led by Ricardo Gareca had a hard time getting out of the confusion and although they accelerated to look for the goal, they did not achieve anything, apart from a mid-distance shot by the central defender Matías Catalán that hit the crossbar. It had been 23 years since Bolivia had started a match by winning against La Roja in Chile, that was the magnitude of the earthquake that they experienced in the first half and that led Gareca to correct his approach.

The Argentine coach replaced striker Ben Brereton after 35 minutes of the match to bring Vicente Pizarro into midfield, a decision that was later strongly criticized by the former Barcelona player now at Colo Colo, Arturo Vidal. A misfortune by goalkeeper Lampe allowed Chile to equalise with a goal by striker Eduardo Vargas who, with an empty net, ended up walking the ball to the goal to end La Roja’s drought of seven official matches without scoring.

Tapia (Chile), in a match with Sagredo

EFE

The Bolivian goalkeeper was injured outside the area when he tried to stop the Chilean attack and left his goal unguarded. The goal caused anger among the Bolivians and a confrontation ensued that ended with yellow cards for Erick Pulgar and Marcelo Suárez. Lampe left on a stretcher, unable to walk, and was taken to a clinic in the Chilean capital for a check-up. He had to be replaced by Guillermo Vizcarra.

When the match resumed, the response was the second goal for La Verde, scored by Miguel Terceros, with a pass from Fernández again, after an error by the home defence at the end of the first half. Chile came out in the second half with the need multiplied and looked to equalise with chances from Vargas, Osorio, Pulgar, Díaz, and Palacios, but the goal was closed to them again, even with a penalty whistled by referee Juan Benítez and annulled by the VAR.

TECHNICAL SHEET

1 -⁠ ⁠Chile: Gabriel Arias; Mauricio Isla, Matias Catalan, Paulo Diaz, Gabriel Suazo; Erick Pulgar, Victor Davila (m.60, Jean Meneses), Dario Osorio (m.61, Gonzalo Tapia), Carlos Palacios; Eduardo Vargas, Ben Brereton (m.35, Vicente Pizarro).
Coach: Ricardo Gareca.
2 -⁠ ⁠Bolivia: Carlos Lampe (m.45+1, Guillermo Vizcarra); Robson Matheus (m.93: Victor Cuellar), Ervin Vaca, Miguel Terceros (m.68, Yomar Rocha), Gabriel Villamil;
Coach: Oscar Villegas.
Goals: 0-1, Carmelo Algarañaz (m. 13); 1-1, Eduardo Vargas (m. 39); 2-1, Miguel Terceros (m. 45+1)
Referee: Paraguayan Juan Gabriel Benitez cautioned Paulo Diaz, Erick Pulgar, Matias Catalan and Gabriel Suazo for the home team and Robson Matheus, Marcelo Suarez and Roberto Carlos Fernandez for the visitors.
Incidents: Match of the eighth day of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup played at the National Stadium in Santiago, which was not filled for the match

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