Last update November 6, 2024 by Alberto Llopis
Bolivia It is not a team used to being in the big world events. In fact, the Bolivian team has only managed to qualify for a final phase of the World Cup. It was in the edition of 1994, held in United States. we remember her.
As we say, even though los bolivianos han participado en tres Mundiales (Uruguay 1930 Y 1950 Y U.S 1994), only in the latter did it manage to qualify on its own merits. The Spanish fans who lived football with passion in those times, We perfectly remember that team dressed in green as they faced the Spanish team led by Javier Clemente.
El milagro de Xabier Azkagorta en Bolivia en USA 94
A figure was key to achieving that historic classification of the Bolivians that allowed them to face each other with teams such as Spain or Germany: Xabier Azkargorta. El técnico vasco se convirtió en mito y leyenda en el país por guiar a la selección sudamericana a un éxito que, Today, has not been repeated.
The popularity of Azkargorta in tierras bolivianas it was such, that the then president of the nation, Sanchez de Lozada, offered by the Ministry of Education, Health and Sport, something that the Spanish coach declined.
Since he took the reins of the Bolivian team in 1993, Azkargorta set out to classify his team to play the World US. At first, everyone thought it was crazy about the new technician, but nevertheless, over time, it was seen that it was a real possibility to the point of being fulfilled to the delight of an entire country.
That team was a very compact block in which players such as Marco Etcheverry, Erwin Sánchez, Julius Caesar Baldivieso or William Branch, among others. All of them were able to defeat, nothing more and nothing less, that Brazil for 2-0 in the World Cup qualifying phase in a match played in La Paz.
El corto recorrido en USA 94 de Marco Etcheverry, la gran estrella de boliviana
The debut Bolivia in that historic world it was against the reigning champion, Germany. But nevertheless, Marco “El Diablo” Etcheverry, una de las grandes figuras del fútbol boliviano en toda su historia, tuvo una participación breve y desafortunada en el Mundial de Estados Unidos 1994.
La selección boliviana se clasificó a esta Copa del Mundo después de un excelente desempeño en las eliminatorias, con Etcheverry como uno de sus grandes protagonistas. But nevertheless, en el primer partido del torneo, frente a Alemania, su participación se vio drásticamente reducida debido a una expulsión inesperada.
Etcheverry, que volvía de una lesión, ingresó al partido en el minuto 79 para tratar de revertir el marcador en contra (1-0 a favor de Alemania). But nevertheless, poco después de entrar, fue expulsado por una falta sobre el alemán Lothar Matthäus.
Fue una tarjeta roja directa, que sorprendió a muchos y dejó a los bolivianos sin su jugador estrella para el resto de ese encuentro y los siguientes. Esta expulsión significó el fin de su participación en el torneo, ya que el conjunto sudamericano no logró pasar de la fase de grupos.
La eliminación temprana fue un golpe duro para la selección boliviana y para Etcheverry, quien perdió la oportunidad de mostrar su talento en el escenario más grande del fútbol mundial.
The second match pitted the Bolivians against South Korea. Again, the South Americans suffered an expulsion but, this time, they got a meritorious tie that left them with options for the last group match against Spain.
But nevertheless, the team led by Javier Clemente, got a clear victory for 3-1 que dejaba fuera a los bolivianos. Erwin Sánchez He was in charge of scoring the only goal for his team in the World Cup.
The fact that so many years have passed since Bolivia will play his last world, It does nothing but magnify the difficulty and merit of that feat.. We'll see if something like this happens again in the near future..
