We hadn’t scored a single goal since the 6-1 in April, so it was useful to get a semblance of form back into the team and at least now Bolivia will definitely finish ahead of Peru on the table: not last. It got rolling quickly, as unknown Edgar Olivares ripped a few early shots either side of scoring an unmarked header from a corner kick 10 minutes in, earning himself an English-language Wikipedia page with the goal (it was only set up yesterday). The idea of the small Bolivians scoring from a headed set-piece against the huge Brazilians is somewhat laughable, especially as they are now Brazil’s forte under Dunga, but there you go.

You get the feeling Marcelo Moreno wanted to deliver in this game above all others. Raised in Brazil with a Brazilian father, having played for Brazil’s youth sides, he then decided on Bolivia, his mother’s country and the one he was born in. It simultaneously gave him an international career as the leading figure of a nation as opposed to the bit-part that all those random Brazilians out there are only ever able to play for their country, yet perversely by doing so he probably killed his chances of playing in a World Cup. I don’t know him; a lot of his heart must be Bolivian, and in any case I’m grateful that Bolivia finally has a genuine star. His 30th-minute free kick was a beautiful piece of focused aim that left Julio Cesar, one of the world’s best keepers, standing and watching.

Brazil’s goal came, as has often been argued in recent years, when they are weirdly at their strongest: defending another team’s set-piece. Their focus and ability to make exactly the correct runs, passes and shots when they see space is unmatched in world soccer. When you see their attacks build up on the break you can feel the power of their technique, thought and movement. Nonetheless there were no repeats, and we held on to post yet another stirring win against a giant of South America. Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, yet we’re still long second-last.

As an off-the-topic aside, a beleaguered Peru deserve some kudos for their fantastic second half against Argentina, one of the better games they’ve played for a long time. What a sensation it would have been for Argentina to be eliminated from the World Cup by a 94th-minute shot from the halfway line in the rain!

1993: I’ve written about this match at length, but I’ll do so again. A best-ever generation of Bolivians had reached two World Youth Cups in the 80s and had won three of four Italia 90 qualifiers (eliminated on goal difference).

They began the 1994 campaign in hope in La Paz and did what no team had ever done before: they beat Brazil in a World Cup qualifier, 2-0. Brazil had been able to preserve an incredible record over the years but it ended here, as in the second-last minute Marco Etcheverry ran the length of the field and did well to squeeze out a shot from the goal line despite rigid marking. Keeper Taffarel spilled it behind him and immediately went from hero to villain after having saved a penalty. A minute later Alvaro Peña smartly finished a one-on-one break.

Bolivia would go on to U.S. 1994, and this match more than any other (except perhaps the WC 1994 game against Germany) has been a symbol of that team and those times for the Bolivian nation ever since.

1997: The tragedy. The 1997 Copa America was staged in Bolivia and a declining Bolivian team had one last hurrah, unexpectedly squeezing out five consecutive wins to reach the final of their own tournament against Ronaldo and Romario’s World Champion Brazil.

After Brazil scored an offside goal in the 41st minute, Erwin Sanchez scored a miracle goal from 40 metres on halftime, and Bolivia took the game by the balls in the second half, hitting the goalframe THREE times with a free kick and two diving headers. Meanwhile Edmundo elbowed his marker in the face but was not sent off, and the all-stars held on grimly. Then, completely against the play, Brazil did a Brazil, setting up an isolated half-chance for Ronaldo in the 79th minute and the greatest pure goalscorer of all time buried it from the edge of the penalty area. Brazil finished it at the end, 3-1. Justice is a fallacy.

Since then:

2001: A small measure of revenge, as 1993 veteran Julio Cesar Baldivieso nailed a free kick from far on the touchline and Brazil’s A-team, still chasing a World Cup spot after three teams had already qualified for Korea/Japan before them, sunk yet again that year, 3-1. There is a better description of that match here.

In the corresponding match four years later, at which I was present in 2005, a creaking Baldivieso again received the ball on the boundary line far out in the exact position in the second half, and the crowd suddenly buzzed in memory. He heard it, so he tried the same arc towards the far post, but this time the Brazilian keeper was wise, and Bolivia drew Brazil-lite 1-1.

The last match between these two in late 2008 is already a relic, in which a faltering Brazil were astonishingly held 0-0 at home by Bolivia’s worker ants. Since then Brazil have picked up the pieces and kicked on, Bolivia beat Argentina 6-1, Joaquin Botero retired, and Bolivia sank again.

Likewise, Ecuador stomped a second-string Bolivia 5-1 in La Paz in late 2001 to all but qualify for their first World Cup too. That was also Bolivia’s first loss at home in a World Cup match in sixteen years. Hmmm.

Previous to that pasting, the Bolivian coach had mentioned that “the knots of brotherhood” would always tie the two countries together but that with Ecuador poised for qualification, Bolivia would still bring it on. He got that bit wrong, but still, the similarities between the two countries are fascinating. They both emerged on the outskirts of the Peru-based Inca empire. Five hundred years later both countries are heavily influenced by indigenous Quechua culture and both feature a mountain capital city that jostles for supremacy with an up-and-coming lowland rival (La Paz vs. Santa Cruz in Bolivia; Quito vs. Guayaquil in Ecuador).

They both play their home games at altitude, so Ecuador would be the best team equipped to tackle Bolivia in La Paz – in fact, since 1997 Ecuador have won all six World Cup qualifying matches between the two.

Some of the highlights (or lowlights, in our case):

Last time out in Quito in mid-2008 Ecuador benefited from a penalty with the game poised at 1-1 to win 3-1. Botero acrobatically scored one of Bolivia’s few goals away from home. He, of course, is now no longer an option.

In September 2005, the very day that I first touched Bolivian soil although for unrelated reasons, the Ecuador selección’s greatest ever player Agustin Delgado scored both goals to win 2-1 in La Paz, although Ecuador’s defending was shaky in the final ten minutes. He, also, is no longer an option. Tears for the departed, in both cases.

Before that there was an off the wall game in 2004 (notice the Michael Jackson reference) when Ecuador took a 3-0 half-time lead in Quito, then choked in front of their own fans, conceding two Bolivian goals and watching Bolivia miss a sitter for the 3-3 draw. But a win is a win is a win… and for us, another loss.

Before that was the 5-1… you get the picture. Ecuador have had our measure.

My concern this time is that Ecuador know altitude, and after two consecutive World Cups are still a fairly classy team. I suspect they’ll get at least a draw out of this upcoming match in La Paz.

Still, I have faith in the current batch of Bolivians! They turned it on against Paraguay (in Bolivia), against Uruguay, against Argentina, and Ecuador is now something of a fading force, composed and useful on the ball but toothless. In Marcelo Martins Bolivia finally have a true world-class star. Bolivia’s inconsistency is a killer, but it’s time for the pendulum to swing again and for Bolivia to play one of their blinders.

This is not a huge rivalry, mostly because with a few exceptions neither country did a whole lot until the 1990s and also because despite the common border the two countries are kind of far away from each other: Santa Cruz to Asunción is a 24-hour bus ride with pure desert in between. When I lived in Cochabamba the talk was more about Bolivia’s other four neighbours if at all, although maybe Paraguay is more relevant in Bolivia’s flatlands. (A Swedish mate of mine watching the Sweden vs. Paraguay WC 2006 match in remote eastern Bolivia screamed his lungs out at Ljungberg’s goal and was given a few glares.)

In June 2008 this happened: Paraguay had just beaten Brazil and won four games in a row with style. Bolivia had done nothing in five qualification matches. Naturally Bolivia then proceeded to pound Paraguay into the turf of La Paz’s regained Hernando Siles, 4 to 2. Paraguay’s keeper couldn’t handle the long shots that whizzed through the mythical La Paz air, and just when Paraguay were working their way back in at 1-2 with 20 minutes left, their keeper again conceded two quick goals resulting from long shots and the game was cooked. Joaquin Botero was the man here with two goals, as he usually is when Bolivia wins, one goal a cute chip over the keeper that recovered a lost situation. For a long time this match left the South American table with the bizarrely symmetrical statistic that Paraguay on top had lost only one game, against the team on the bottom, and vice versa.

Please click here for my list of Bolivian team videos, where you will find the video of this vibrant 4-2 victory.

As against that unexpected humbling that Bolivia dished out, they’ve been brutally crushed on their last two visits to Asunción. On the last occasion in June 2005, Paraguay’s faltering 2006 qualification campaign was saved with a 4-1 win over Bolivia but given the country’s circumstances that month (Bolivia was in the midst of a distressing political crisis, severe even by their standards) the Bolivian players admitted the match was the least of their problems.

I suspect that, history will repeat itself and that Paraguay will need the ‘free’ game at home against the boys in green to righten their suddenly turbulent 2010 ship. Talk about bizarre stats: the only match away from home in the last two World Cup campaigns (16 matches and counting) in which Bolivia have avoided defeat was against… Brazil. It’s funny how the world works sometimes.

1993: The big one. Brazil, for the first time EVER, lose a World Cup qualifying match, in BOLIVIA of all places! Bolivia scored two goals in the last two minutes of the match to leave Brazil shell-shocked in La Paz. Brazil had gone twenty-three years since its last World Cup and this loss must have made it seem like they were never going to win it again. The boys in yellow were so angry they beat us 6-0 in the return, but no matter.

2001: Ecuador beat Brazil 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Quito – the first ever win by Ecuador over Brazil.

This win was the Ecuadorean equivalent of Bolivia’s win in 1993, setting the team off on great things and a first World Cup qualification. The match and its outcome became a symbol for both countries, ushering in Brazil’s annus horribilus of 2001, in which they would lose four qualifiers in Ecuador, Uruguay, Argentina and Bolivia (after losing to Paraguay and Chile the year before), would draw at home against Peru, would finish fourth in the Confederations Cup after losing to Japan, France and Australia, and would be knocked out of the Copa America by Honduras. You read that correctly.

The loss provoked a furious backlash in Brazil. 1970 hero Tostao was immediately moved to reason: Did Brazil go too far in their post-1982/6 push for greater efficiency? Had they given up their greatest weapon in their creativity to go into battle with the pure defensive weapons of their enemies? Would Brazilian commentator Galvao Bueno get over his humiliation from watching the Ecuadorean crowd chant “Olé” as Ecuador caressed the ball around in the closing minutes? Had Brazil’s once-elegant midfield been reduced to pure thuggery after witnessing Emerson’s crude attempts to end Ecuadorean Ivan Kaviedes’ career? If Ronaldo hadn’t pulled a few tricks a year later they would still be asking those questions.

2001: For the second time, a goalkeeper misjudgement costs Brazil defeat in a qualifier in La Paz, by 3 goals to 1. As the match was turning Bolivia’s way at 1-1 Brazil’s assistant coaches literally resorted to kneeling and praying on the sidelines while Scolari was bemused by being taken apart by Bolivia’s “five little dwarves up front.” Julio Baldivieso then scored the perfect goal, lofted from 40 meters out on the touchline over keeper Marcos’ head and into the far corner (à la Ronaldinho vs. England, but better). Would this wretched qualifying competition never end? Brazil asked. Meanwhile, La Paz’s Hernando Siles Stadium was solidifying its reputation as a Brazilian goalkeepers’ graveyard, both at club and international level. Still, coach Scolari forgave Marcos, saying that he had a right to make mistakes like anyone else. Marcos then single-handedly won the crucial game for Brazil against Belgium at WC 2002, with the help of a Jamaican referee’s whistle.

2002: Bolívar 5-5 Atletico Paranaense, 2002 Copa Libertadores. Some mysterious occurrences happen in La Paz: Brazilian side Paranaense let go of a 5-1 halftime lead (!) to wilt in the second half, probably something to do with the altitude. It ain’t easy. Bolívar tied the scores in injury time with a penalty kick.

2004: Ecuador fortuitously repeat their 1-0 win of four years ago. By now Brazil were again World Champions and with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Kaka all at, approaching or just past career-best form, Brazil were now strolling – how different from three years beforehand. Still, the loss against the run of play would have been an annoying reminder of their previous visit to the mountains of Quito.

Any other altitude moments that Brazilian, Ecuadorean or Bolivian fans could fill me in on?

b) Spectacular matches, generally at home in La Paz, in which they put the opposition to the sword. We’ve had a few of them this campaign:

Bolivia 4-2 Paraguay
Bolivia 3-0 Peru
BOLIVIA 6-1 ARGENTINA, lest we forget

Previously there were some false dawns:

Bolivia 4-0 Colombia 2003, in which Botero scored a hat-trick.

Bolivia 3-1 Brazil 2001, in which Brazil needed a win to end their nightmare 2002 qualifying campaign with success, swaggered in and were taken to the cleaners by our boys. In Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari’s inimitable words, “They’ve got five little dwarves up front and they’re tearing our defence to pieces.”

The only problem is that a lot of these Bolivian performances start out as the “b” type but mutate into…

c) Matches in which Bolivia outplay their opponent and are winning but lose in the last minutes because of faulty defensive cover and arguably because of the Bolivian nation’s historical inferiority complex. Examples this campaign:

Bolivia 2-2 Uruguay: up 2-0 at half-time, conceded equaliser in 88th minute. A win would have inserted Bolivia into the mix of possible World Cup challengers; a draw left them languishing as usual. Seeing the chances Bolivia wasted in the second half is quite painful viewing.

Venezuela 5-3 Bolivia, in which Bolivia played their best game away from home in years, took the lead three times and led with ten minutes to go, yet conceded ridiculous goals in the 82nd, 89th and 90th minutes.

Previously:

Bolivia 2-2 Peru, 2007 Copa America: A sprightly performance in which a win would have put Bolivia into the knockout rounds for the first time in ten years, but they conceded an 85th minute goal.

Bolivia 3-3 Argentina 2001, the year in which one of Argentina’s greatest ever national teams scored in the 89th and 90th minutes after Bolivia had generally run rings around them. At least we got the 6-1 eight years later.

So despite abundant goals, despite playing a match against Argentina that shook the world and an astonishing drawn match in Brazil of all places, and despite at one point boasting both the South American qualifying competition’s highest goalscorer (Joaquin Botero, 8 goals) and second-highest goalscorer (the great hope, Marcelo Martins Moreno, 6 goals)… for all that, Bolivia are still second-last with less points and wins to this stage than in their terrible 2006 campaign. I just don’t understand it. The country is cursed or something.