Bolivia 2-1 Brazil: Oh, Marcelo!

This was nice. As our Brazilian correspondent rightly said in his preview of this match, “At this point what is there really to say about this fixture?” But wins against Brazil don’t come every day (only Bolivia’s fifth defeat of Brazil ever), and much of Brazil’s A-team was surprisingly intact (Julio Cesar, Maicon and Dani Alves were some unexpected high-profile starters).

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!