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June 25, 2023
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Qualifiers: Was there an improvement in the Bolivian National Team with the arrival of Gustavo Costas?

June 25, 2023, 10:57 AM

June 25, 2023, 10:57 AM

Three defeats (four if we add Senegal), a draw and a victory. That is the balance of Gustavo Costas in command of the National Team in his first five/six games. The number is cold and can be frowned upon, but in football you always have to open the doors to internal analysis and see what happened in each match. Soccer is usually unfair and to this we must add that, many times, Bolivia wins on its own with its own mistakes.

In TEN, we go over the details of the first meetings and of the work that Gustavo Costas has been doing in the Bolivian National Team.

Who came as coach?

Bolivia searched for an experienced, versatile coach who would adapt to the material it has and found Gustavo Costas. The DT has an enormous trajectory for different clubs in South America and was successful in all of them. He always achieved objectives, under different game models. Now he fights with La Verde to reach the 2026 World Cup.

He was offensive when he had the raw material, and defensive when the clubs had other characteristics. Now in Bolivia, he has been getting the juice out of some soccer players that, until recently, nobody thought about them for the National Team.

Gustavo F.He signed his link with Bolivia on August 19 and there was a friendly match against Senegal in September, but the DT did not lead such a match. It was known that Costas was still working in Palestino de Chile, and that You could only get fully involved with La Verde in November.

That friendly clash against the Africans was led by Pablo Escobar, where some features of what the Selection shows today were applied. By then, a very small advance team from Costas’ coaching staff had arrived to work on the preliminaries.

As the list was put together between Escobar and that Costas outpost, some names that today are not even starters with their teams. Leonel Justiniano, Fernando Saucedo, Rodrigo Ramallo, Moisés Villarroel, Marc Enoumba, Luis Haquin, Bruno Miranda and Jaume Cuéllar, are some of them.

Qualifiers: Was there an improvement in the Bolivian National Team with the arrival of Gustavo Costas?
Gustavo Costas in his presentation withmy DT from La Verde.

The first call: changes and the hand of Costas

Gustavo put together his first list at the beginning of November. He was targeting the friendly against Peru in Santa Cruz. For this meeting, social problems in the Santa Cruz capital forced a change of venue. Finally, the friendly was played in Arequipa, where we lost 1-0 with a goal at 55′.

Against Peru, Gustavo lined up Viscarra; Medina, Jusino, Jose Sagredo, Carlos Roca; Villamil, Justiniano, Villarroel, Ramiro Vaca; Bruno Miranda and Marcelo Martins. Menona Saucedo, Marc Enoumba, Miguel Terceros, Henry Vaca and Carmelo Algarañaz entered from the substitute bench.

The change of command has already been noticed. In the call they left out players who had been called up regularly, and even their absence was the cause of controversy. In their place, players that few imagined in La Verde appeared. The backbone of the National Team was modified by Costas.

Against Peru it was an even match, where Bolivia had moments of dominance and movements to highlight. Even so, at parity, Christian Cueva filtered a magnificent pass and assisted for the only goal of the game. In the National Team, Daniel Medina and Miguel Terceros stood out. The individual quality of Peru broke zero.

Qualifiers: Was there an improvement in the Bolivian National Team with the arrival of Gustavo Costas?
Gustavo Costas’ first call-up for the match against Peru.

Tour of Arabia: the signs of an intense Bolivia

La Verde embarked in March of this year on a trip to Saudi Arabia, where he faced Uzbekistan and the local team.

On March 24, Bolivia faced Uzbekistan in a complex match. The Uzbek team was subdued by La Verde in the first half, but a fatal mistake buried all the good that had been done. Danny Bejarano was the man who committed the fatality.

Poor control at a reception opened space to Uzbekistan, the ball fell to Eldor Shomurodov, a striker who plays in the Italian Serie A, and the rival billed in the only risk play. 1-0 down Bolivia.

Before Saudi Arabia, an a priori stronger Selection, Bolivia loosened up much more. It was an even match, back and forth, in which La Verde struck first with Marcelo Martins, and then conceded the equalizer through a penalty converted by World Cup player Salem Al-Dawsari (the same one who scored a great goal for Argentina in Qatar 2022).

With the score at 1-1, Costas began to move his chips and brought in Carmelo Algarañaz from the substitute bench. Bolívar’s forward entered well, and was able to score the 2-1 in favor of Bolivia with a nice half-turn goal. The victory was justified. La Verde scored goals throughout the match, and the coach was never satisfied with a draw.

For these two friendlies, Gustavo tested a line of 4 against Uzbekistan and 5 against Arabia. Le gave minutes to Carlos Lampe and Guillermo Viscarra in the goal. In defense he tried with Diego Medina and Roberto Carlos Fernández as regulars on the sides, and Adrián Jusino accompanied by Leo Zabala and/or Marcelo Suárez.

In the midfield he put Danny Bejarano, Jaime Arrascaita, Miguel Terceros and Luciano Ursino in both games. Adelante put Marcelo Martins as a regular and complemented him with the same Third Party or with Jeyson Chura, depending on the 5-3-2 or 4-3-1-2.

After the two games in Arabia, a better Selection was already visible. Each of the most active players, with more intensity when playing. But more is still needed.


Celebration of Bolivia after the 2-1 win against Saudi Arabia.

The stumbling block with Ecuador and the party-flavored draw with Chile

Against Ecuador, the National Team once again fell prey to an individual error. Gabriel Villamil was the ‘villain’, after poorly controlling a pass and leaving the option to Ecuador, which he billed through Enner Valencia. ‘La Tri’ played better, imposed conditions, but La Verde showed an interesting defensive facet. He was unwavering, until the Ecuadorian goal came.

Ecuador dominated and came close, but never put real danger in the Bolivian goal. The back line pressed and cleared every ball that fell. After the mistake and the Ecuadorian goal, Gustavo Costas tried to change the tables. They brought offensive players, but the ideas were not clear in attack, much less we were able to maintain possession of the ball.

Twelve hours of travel later and training at home later, La Verde faced Chile in the middle of a party for the Santa Cruz team. in this match Bolivia applied the intensity shown against Arabia and the defensive solidity that it exhibited against Ecuador. The combination was exciting for the fans of Santa Cruz, who were encouraged to dream: “We played on the level, without the height and against the stars of Chile”, was heard in some fans after the 0-0.

La Verde deserved more against La Roja, but in football you need goals. Also Physical rest is needed. Against Chile, Bolivia did not make any big mistakes and kept a clean sheet, but during the last 30 minutes of the game the National Team “was left without legs, and it lacked gasoline.” This is how DT explained.

In this call, the names that best suit the Gustavo Costas system were corroborated: Viscarra, Medina, Quinteros, Suárez, Fernández, Ursino, Arrascaita, and Martins. In addition, the pleasant appearance of Lucas Chávez was added, who played with daring and courage against the Chilean figures.


Jaime Arrascaita, figure of the Bolivian National Team.

La Verde is ‘green’, but you have to help it mature

The Bolivian National Team is the one with the lowest level. Few players abroad, few pitches to train, the FBF and the clubs ignored the coach’s request to carry out microcycles constantly and the overall level of the League is low. Still but still, with a few days of intense training, Gustavo Costas showed that footballers can play and match up against high-flying players.

No coach in the country demands as Costas demanded of Medina against Chile, and that should be a simple example. Cramped and everything, but one is in the Selection to leave everything. This is also how it should be in the clubs, with each DT demanding the maximum possible from each one, wanting to play soccer, not waste time, as commonly happens in all Bolivian stadiums.

“The first training sessions made me ashamed”, Gustavo told DIEZ in a conversation after the tour of Arabia. The player is used to a low level of demand and all the work of the National Team can easily be destroyed if they are not given space, time, and if these ‘vices’ are maintained in the clubs.

The lack of rhythm, the game cut off, faking infractions, seeking to take advantage of any moment to paralyze the game, They are all actions that international football does not allow you. There we move away in the gap between the players of the best leagues in the world and those who play in the Bolivian one.

Against rivals of the hierarchy, such as those that are coming in September (Brazil and Argentina by Qualifiers)La Verde needs to maintain the work with the selected and that each of them expand it in their clubs. Only in this way will the gap between the stars of South American soccer and the Bolivia that seeks to mature be shortened.

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