Cross-post of my most recent Global Voices article.
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Sitting in the middle of the Miraflores neighborhood of La Paz, Bolivia, the Hernando Siles stadium is home to several local professional football teams and is home to the Bolivian National Team. Even though the squad has finished at the bottom of the table for the past […]
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Recibimento del Equipo
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Last week, Bolivian football star Marco “el Diablo” Etcheverry held his tribute and farewell match in Santa Cruz. Traditionally these games finally mean retirement once and for all. Etcheverry held onto the hope to have one more go at it, but clearly, he no longer was the maestro that helped Bolivia qualify for […]
This weekend features the first leg of a series of home-and-home series between countries to qualify for the remaining five berths in the World Cup for next summer.
South America’s fifth place team plays the winner of the Oceania region for one of those slots. Saturday’s match is a replay of the same scenario with […]
My hometown football teams were trounced yesterday. If these were the late 1980s, I would be greatly depressed over the defeat of the Washington Redskins, who lost 36-0 to the NY Giants. John Riggins, Art Monk and Darrell Green no longer play for this American football team and my interest in that sport […]
Facing a bored and lifeless Brazil team, Bolivia played a superb second half which featured an equalizing goal and numerous near misses. At halftime, coach Ovidio Messa inserted Jose Alfredo Castillo and Daner Pachi which energized the team. A brilliant cross into the box by Pachi found the head of Joaquin Botero who […]
The Bolivian National Team is mathematically eliminated from any chance of qualifying for next summer’s World Cup in Germany. The squad was in a similar position four years ago during the run-up to the World Cup in Japan/South Korea 2002 when it last faced Brazil in La Paz in November 2001.
The […]
In front of a tiny crowd in La Paz, the Bolivian National Team falls 1-2 to Ecuador. Bolivia has had a dismal showing in this qualifying cycle and will likely place last out of 9 teams in South America. The Ecuador team has closed in on a second consecutive trip to the World […]
I finally saw the replay of the Boca Juniors - Chivas game in Buenos Aires where the Boca players and fans lost their minds. The game featured the Boca coach spitting on the Chivas player Adolfo Bautista as he was being escorted off the pitch, as well as a couple of Boca “fans” who […]
As usual, the webpage La Maquina Verde has a great summary of the newest list of players called up for the games against Chile and Paraguay. Both games will be played on the road, with the game in Santiago on June 4th followed by a trip to Asuncion on June 8th. This was […]
Tonight’s international match between the hometown DC United and Mexican League champs UNAM Pumas will be something special for the Bolivians in the area. Both teams come equipped with Bolivian firepower with last year’s near-MVP Jaime Moreno for DC United and the inconsistent forward Joaquin Botero for Pumas (pictured).
This semi-final match for the CONCACAF […]
El Alto is now considered one of the 4 major urban centers in Bolivia (the others: La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba). Bolivia’s “youngest city” can now boast having a team in the Bolivian Football League with the unveiling of their new stadium “Cosmos 79” located about an hour’s bus ride from the center […]
I had plans to take off work to go down to Cecilia’s and watch the Bolivia - Venezuela game. In a perfect world, Bolivia would have defeated Argentina last Saturday and preparing themselves to capture all 6 points. However, the loss two days ago has put everyone in a foul mood. The […]
Bolivia attempts to capitalize on Argentina’s terror of the altitude of La Paz in today’s World Cup qualifier. In every interview of Argentine players, they always say they don’t want to talk about the altitude, but they do so anyway by saying that they don’t want to talking about it. A group of reporters […]
New head coach Ovidio Messa gets his first crack at leading the Bolivian National Team with two games on the 26th and 29th of this month. Both games will be played in La Paz, where Bolivia holds a serious psychologial and unproven physiological advantage over its rivals due to the high altitude. The […]
Club Bolivar, which almost won the Copa Sudamericana last year, beat Brazilian power Santos last Wednesday 4-3 in the first match in Group 2 of the Copa Libertadores. The team from São Paulo, which Pele made famous, was blindsided by Argentine midfielder Cristian Zermatte and his hat-trick.
I have been without Fox Sports […]
The Bolivian Football Federation picked their third coach since late 2003, to salvage the rest of the World Cup qualifying schedule. Ovidio Messa has a tall task ahead of him, which consists largely of crawling out of the cellar. Even though Bolivia currently sits last with 10 points from 11 games (3 points […]
For the first time in history, a Bolivian club team takes its chances and goes for a major International competition. The La Paz-based team Bolivar is in Buenos Aires for the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana. With only a 1-0 lead, Bolivar will try to avoid a goleada.
In the famed La Bombonera […]
National Team Captain, Luis Hector Cristaldo, tests positive for cocaine. He claims that the test results are false and is an attempt to discredit him, so that he is removed from the team once and for all.
National Team goalkeepr, Leo Fernandez, does not return to Bolivia after last week’s game against Colombia. Instead […]
You don’t have to be an NBA basketball fan to have seen the fight between the Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, and Pistons fans. When two players decided to jump into the stands to respond to flying debris (a cup of ice), it reminded me of my experiences at futbol matches in Cochabamba and grateful […]