Carlos Emilio Lampe, Bolivia’s goalkeeper will undergo surgery on Wednesday after suffering a “total rupture of the right Achilles tendon” in the controversial play that occurred in the 42nd minute of the 2026 World Cup qualifying match against Chile.
Lamp He was injured when he was going to clear the ball with his right foot outside his area, but he did not get to shoot, he fell and Eduardo Vargas He took advantage of the situation to go off on his own and score the provisional equaliser with an open goal.
The Bolívar goalkeeper was examined in a hospital at the end of the match, in which Bolivia achieved a historic 1-2 victory in Santiago de Chile with a subsequent goal from Michael Terceros.
“The operation will be carried out at the MEDS Clinic in Santiago, Chile, at the end of the afternoon on Wednesday, September 11, in order to immediately begin the recovery process,” the Bolivian team said in a statement.
The action occurred when Lamp He received the ball from a teammate on the edge of the area, controlled it and when he was about to kick it long he slipped slightly and ended up lying on the grass. Although the goalkeeper raised his hand to indicate that he had been injured, Vargas, who was about to apply light pressure to interrupt the action, took advantage to take the ball and score easily into an empty goal.
The Paraguayan referee Juan Gabriel Benitez validated the goal and the Bolivian players did not hesitate to criticize the Chilean attacker for his action and claim he was not playing fairly, while the teammates Vargas they defended him on his way to the center of the field.
Lamp He had to leave on a stretcher unable to walk and was replaced by Guillermo VizcarraThe protests and arguments between the players resulted in two yellow cards and Bolivia, after the match resumed, had time to score the final 1-2 in the extension of the first half by means of Michael Terceros.
What the regulations say
Since there was no contact in the action that could be understood as a foul or infraction, in application of Rule 9 of the Regulations, the referee must allow the game to continue.
At the end of the match, the Bolivian coach, Oscar Villegas, confirmed that the goalkeeper suffered a rupture of the right Achilles tendon, so it was ruled out that the play was a simulation or an error by the footballer.
Another controversial precedent of Vargas
Vargas, whose action has gone viral on social media, was already involved in a controversial issue five years ago when, in the Mexican League, Tigres beat Veracruz 1-3 with two goals in the first minutes, from the Chilean and the Frenchman. André Pierre Gignac, when the rival refused to move the ball as a form of protest against the salary arrears owed to the players.
The Veracruz players had agreed with the felines that they would not touch the ball for several minutes, the Tigres players assumed that the strike would only last one minute and scored the goals without opposition, which the Sharks interpreted as disloyalty.
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The Brazilian Ricardo Ferretticoach of Mexican side Tigres UANL, justified, however, that his team scored those two goals against Veracruz because there was a lack of communication and they did not know what to do. “Nobody knew how to proceed and it caused unpleasant things,” acknowledged Ferretti.
