Bolivia

Back to Team Guide

Current FIFA Rank: 79

Copa America Record: Winners (1963), Runners-up (1997)

Manager: Julio César Baldivieso

Overview:

Bolivia has had a very inconsistent history when it comes to football. Throughout their history since the creation of the Bolivian National Football Team, they have qualified for the World Cup three times: 1930, 1950 and 1994, each time being eliminated in the group stage, with their best game result being a 0-0 draw against South Korea in 1994. Despite their inconsistency in World Cup qualification, they have appeared in the Copa America 25 times before winning it in 1963 and once again making the final in 1997, but ultimately losing. This second place finish marked the peak of their FIFA rank at 24.

After their 1997 Copa America finish, the Bolivian National Team took a big fall in the standings, dropping from 24 to a low of 108 in 2007 with four first round exits in the tournament they had come so close to winning just a decade before. Since this devastating period of free fall, the Bolivian National Team has gone through wild swings in the rankings, rising as high as 42 and also falling down to their low of 108 again. They enter the tournament as the 79^th ranked team in the world just around their average of 72 and as the last seeded member of their group. Bolivia would need an upset over Panama and likely a miraculous win or draws with Argentina and/or Chile to have a chance at making it out of the group. It is likely that they will see a group stage exit and hope to regain some consistency they have recently lacked.

Players to Watch:

Marcelo Martins Moreno:

Marcelo Martins Moreno is Bolivia’s currently most capped player with 54 appearances, leading a very inexperienced squad. He is also their current leading goal scorer with 14 goals in these appearances and is one of the few players on the team to play abroad, playing in China for Changchun Yatai. As a youth, Moreno played for both the U18 and U20 Brazilian teams but decided to ultimately step out of his Brazilian father’s shadow and play for his own home country of Bolivia. Despite his inexperience, he is no stranger to the pressure of the Copa America. Despite winning in 1963 and losing in the finals to Brazil in 1997, recent Copa America history has not been kind to the Bolivian National Team. From 1997 until 2015 they did not win a single Copa America match, but in 2015 Moreno scored the decisive goal in a 3-2 win against Ecuador. Bolivia eventually advanced out of the group stage and had a respectable quarter final finish ending a streak of first round exits. For Bolivia to have any chance at advancing from this group, Moreno will need to showcase some of his Copa America magic.

Manager:

Julio César Baldivieso was appointed manager of the Bolivian team in 2015 and has a harsh disciplinarian style as well as a strange managerial history. Being a player for many years and even playing for Bolivia in the 1994 World Cup, Baldivieso eventually transitioned to coaching, eventually managing teams in Bolivia. One of the first teams he managed was the club Aurora in the top flight of Bolivian football where he became involved in some controversy when he played his 12-year-old son in the final minutes of a professional match, making him the youngest professional player in South America. A harsh tackle that ended with his son requiring some medical attention caused Baldivieso to criticize the referees and ended up with the club requiring him to choose between the job or his son and he soon left Aurora. After coaching for many different teams, Baldivieso was became manager for Bolivia and in his first game lost 7-0 to Argentina. Since then he has taken his team to a military college for training and improved in 2016, losing only 2-0 to Argentina. He will have another opportunity to play against the Argentines this summer and put his team’s training to the test in a very difficult group.

Works Cited:

“Bolivian Boy Sets Football Record.” BBC News. BBC, 22 July 2009. Web. 01 May 2016. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8163533.stm>.

“Tras El Polémico Debut, Baldivieso Y Su Hijo Se Van Del Aurora De Bolivia.” Diario 26. N.p., 24 July 2009. Web. 01 May 2016. <http://www.diario26.com/tras-el-polemico-debut-baldivieso-y-su-hijo-se-van-del-aurora-de-bolivia-93224.html>.

Galea, Matthew. “Argentina – Bolivia.” Goal.com. N.p., 29 Mar. 2016. Web. 01 May 2016. <http://www.goal.com/en-us/match/argentina-vs-bolivia/2161450/report>.

“Marcelo Moreno.” Goal.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2016. <http://www.goal.com/en-us/people/bolivia/18051/marcelo-moreno>.

Kalinic, Dejan. “Argentina – Bolivia.” Goal.com. N.p., 4 Sept. 2015. Web. 01 May 2016. <http://www.goal.com/en-us/match/argentina-vs-bolivia/2135526/report>.

Manuca, David. “Bolivia v Uruguay Preview: Oscar Tabarez Wary of La Paz Altitude – Goal.com.” Goal.com. N.p., 07 Oct. 2015. Web. 01 May 2016. <http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/11442/match-previews/2015/10/07/16089202/bolivia-vs-uruguay-tabarez-wary-of-la-paz-altitude>.

Mota, Cahê. “Achei! Marcelo Moreno, Um Boliviano De Coração Verde E Amarelo.” Globo. N.p., 9 Feb. 2008. Web. 1 May 2016.

Pisani, Sacha. “Ecuador – Bolivia.” Goal.com. N.p., 14 June 2015. Web. 01 May 2016. <http://www.goal.com/en-us/match/ecuador-vs-bolivia/1947877/preview>.

How to Cite this page:

“Bolivia” Written by Arjun Jain (1 May 2016), Copa America Centenario 2016, Soccer Politics Blog, Duke University http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/tournament-guides/copa-america-centenario-2016-guide/copa-america-centenario-2016-team-guide/bolivia/ (accessed on (date))