Bolivia’s forward Ramiro Vaca (centre) celebrates with teammates after firing his team into the lead against Venezuela
AIZAR RALDES
In Thursday’s other qualifier, Bolivia reignited their campaign with a 4-0 drubbing over Venezuela in a game played more than 4,000m (13,100 feet) above sea level.
Goals from Ramiro Vaca, Carmelo Algaranaz, Miguel Terceros and Enzo Monteiro handed Bolivia only their second win of qualifying and lifted them into seventh place in the standings.
The result was a vindication of Bolivia’s move to play Thursday’s game in El Alto — Spanish for “The Heights” — rather than at their usual home venue in neighboring La Paz, which is 3,600m above sea level.
The thin air of El Alto clearly left Venezuela’s players struggling for energy against a Bolivian team aiming to qualify for their first World Cup since reaching the 1994 finals in the United States.
Despite his team’s heavy loss, Venezuela coach Fernando Batista refused to dwell on the altitude issue after the game.
“Out of 10 questions, eight are about altitude,” Batista said. “You won’t hear anything from me about it.”
The pick of Bolivia’s goals came from Vaca after just 13 minutes.
The 25-year-old midfielder gathered the ball around 30 yards from goal, cut in from the left and unleashed a ferocious shot which flew into the top corner.
Venezuela, the only team from South America never to have qualified for a World Cup, remain well-placed to reach the finals despite Thursday’s loss.
The ‘Vinotinto’ are fourth in the standings with nine points from seven games, trailing Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia.
Venezuela host Uruguay next Tuesday in their eighth game of qualifying.
South America’s qualifiers continue on Friday with second-placed Uruguay hosting Paraguay in Montevideo while struggling Brazil, who are 11 points adrift of leaders Argentina in sixth, face Ecuador in Curitiba.
Third-placed Colombia, meanwhile, travel to Lima to face bottom-of-the-table Peru.
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Publish date : 2024-09-05 19:02:00
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