The only good thing about the delay caused by the pesky bag thief and subsequent passport loss was its coincidence with the Bolivian World Cup qualifying match against Argentina on Wednesday afternoon.
In contrast to the last game we were at there (Bolivar vs La Paz FC), the ground was packed. We arrived 15 minutes before kick-off, which was about the same time that everyone else arrived. The queues for every entrance were winding around the stadium, but nobody seemed unduly concerned. It was a sea of green - everyone was decked out in various forms of Bolivian rip-off tat: caps, shirts, wigs, flags, and a fair number of our fellow backpackers could be spotted, completely gone to town, with their faces painted. Simon had already bought his £2.80 shirt the day before and so was ready for the occasion.
The Argentinians came into the game on the back of three straight victories under Maradona with 7 goals scores and none conceded. The chubby, greasy, hand-balling reformed drug addict himself was pacing in front of the dug-out. Messi, probably the best player in the world, looked menacing; Tevez and Mascherano are having good seasons. Despite all this we felt Bolivia had a chance. Argentina were complacent and have a history of not performing at altitude. We had heard rumours that they had flown in that morning for a match to be played at nearly 4000 metres. However, we had no inkling of the one-sided whopping the Argies were in for.
Presumably, the Argentinians would have been hoping for a calm game of possession football, but the Bolivian team were in no mood for a knockabout and got stuck in from the off. Before the Argentinians really knew what had hit them, Bolivia were 1-0 up. After this, the Argentinians found their feet and started to show a little class, with Messi in particular standing out with one sensational run on goal and a one-two with Tevez that should have ended with a goal. They were then gifted an equaliser when a seemingly pointless shot from 40 yards bounced embarassingly over the Bolivian goalkeeper's flapping arms and into the net. 10 minutes later Bolivia were back in front thanks to, to give him some credit, a quick pass from the goalie which, a pass and a shot later, led to the goal. Another goal followed to give Bolivia a 3-1 lead at half time, with many of the Argentinians already looking dead on their feet, Tevez in particular.
Maradona's half time team talk appeared to have been to shoot on sight given how hopeless the Bolivian goalkeeper had proven to be in the first half, and that his team were on their knees. This led to some particularly miserable efforts from distance, Mascherano being the main culprit.
The goals kept coming and Bolivia ran out with the amazing result of 6-1. In all honesty, York City probably would have beaten this woeful Argentinian side, had they been used to the altitude, maybe even Jeff's Chippy (Chris Archer's pub team).
The crowd were surprisingly complacent about the victory, cheering goals but not making that much more noise. The press were a bit more upbeat with the next day's papers and tv celebrating the heroic Bolivian players and mocking the hapless Argentinians.
Overall, it was great to see the national stadium full and be there for such an historic match. Despite the lack of passion compared to English fans, it was a great family atmosphere. We enjoyed our drinks, ice-creams and pork cobs brought round to our seats and learnt the odd 'Bo-bo-bo li-li-li via-via-via' Bolivia chant.
No comments:
Post a Comment