Bolivia surprises Colombia in World Cup qualifying

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Bolivia's dream of participating in the World Cup for only the fourth time in history received a further boost on Thursday after the minnows defeated Colombia 1-0 in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 finals.

A superb individual goal from Miguel Terceros gave the Bolivians their fourth victory in qualifying and moved them into the automatic qualification places.

Bolivia's fortunes have improved dramatically since the country played its home qualifiers in El Alto, which is more than 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) above sea level.

El Alto – Spanish for “The Heights” – is around 400 m higher than the Bolivians' usual home venue, the Estadio Hernando Siles in neighboring La Paz, which is 3,600 m above sea level.

Bolivia decided to move the games to El Alto after losing two of its first three home qualifiers in La Paz last year.

The move paid off: Thursday's 1-0 win followed a 4-0 win over Venezuela at the same venue in September.

After securing a shock 2-1 away win against Chile last month, Bolivia now sits fourth in the South American table with 12 points from nine games.

The top six finishers in the round-robin tournament automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup in North America, which will be expanded to 48 teams for the first time.

Bolivia last qualified for the World Cup at the 1994 finals in the United States and participated in the 1930 and 1950 tournaments after receiving invitations to compete.

Bolivia are in their current form and can still reach the 2026 finals after overcoming a 20th-minute red card for central midfielder Hector Cuellar to clinch victory over in-form Colombia, who remain second in the table .

Terceros' winning goal came in the 58th minute when the 20-year-old winger, who plays for Brazilian club Santos, cut forward from the right side, weaved past Colombian defenders Jhon Lucumi and Kevin Castano and fired a blitz with the left foot shot that flew into the top corner of the goal.

In another qualifying round for South America, Ecuador faced Paraguay in Quito on Thursday, while Lionel Messi and world champion Argentina played an away game against Venezuela in Maturin.

In the late game, Brazil will face Chile in Santiago.

bur/rcw/bb