Bolivia vs. Paraguay: winding it back

As we approach a fresh series of win-or-perish matches, this page will be taking a look back at what’s gone down recently between Bolivia and its upcoming rivals. First Bolivia travel to Asunción to play Paraguay on September 5, then host Ecuador in La Paz on the 9th.

Bolivia and Paraguay fought a war in the 1930s over a few grains of sand, but if we didn’t all return to normality after every war then no one would be speaking to anyone.

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.