Bolivia striker Ramiro Vaca (centre) celebrates his team’s first goal in their victory over Venezuela in World Cup qualifying on Thursday.
AIZAR RALDES
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Bolivia revived its campaign to qualify for the 2026 World Cup with a 4-0 win over Venezuela on Thursday, with the match played more than 4,000 metres (13,100 feet) above sea level.
Goals from Ramiro Vaca, Carmelo Algaranaz, Miguel Terceros and Enzo Monteiro gave Bolivia its second victory in South American qualifying and moved the team into seventh place in the overall standings of the ten teams.
The result justified Bolivia’s decision to play Thursday’s qualifier in El Alto – Spanish for “the height” – rather than at their usual home stadium in neighboring La Paz, which lies 3,600 meters above sea level.
The thin air in El Alto clearly left the Venezuelan players lacking energy as they faced a Bolivian team seeking to qualify for a World Cup for the first time since reaching the finals in the United States in 1994.
Bolivia took the lead after just 13 minutes with an excellent goal from Vaca.
The 25-year-old midfielder received the ball around 27 metres from the goal, cut in from the left and fired a powerful shot that flew into the top corner.
Greek-playing striker Algaranaz then provoked a foul by Venezuelan defender Jon Aramburu in the penalty area deep into first-half stoppage time before picking himself up, converting the penalty and making it 2-0.
Any hopes Venezuela had of catching up in the second half were dashed shortly after half-time when Terceros scored Bolivia’s third goal from close range following an assist from Roberto Fernandez.
Monteiro then sealed the victory with Bolivia’s fourth goal in the 89th minute.
Bolivia opted to move its home qualifying matches to the thinner air of El Alto after playing its first three matches of 2026 qualifying at the Hernando Siles Stadium in La Paz, picking up just three points from a possible nine after losses to Argentina and Ecuador followed by a win over Peru.
As the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico will be expanded to 48 teams for the first time, the top six teams from the South American qualifiers are guaranteed a place in the finals.
The seventh-placed team advances to an interconfederal play-off.
Venezuela is the only South American team that has never qualified for a World Cup and, despite Thursday’s defeat, still has a good chance of reaching the finals.
With nine points from seven games, “Vinotinto” is in fourth place in the table, behind Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia.
