Bolivia has almost always been eliminated from the World Cup and Brazil, on the contrary, is a permanent and ever-present participant in the World Cup, but La Verde is the only team that has beaten it on three occasions in qualifying matches. La Canarinha has 12 defeats and three of them were at the Hernando Siles stadium.
In the new visit to the Government headquarters on Tuesday, Brazil will try not to lose for the fourth time against Bolivia, which would be enough to finish the qualifiers undefeated, something that has not happened with any team in the round-robin system.
Of the three defeats Brazil has had in La Paz, the most painful was on July 25, 1993. On that day, Xabier Azkargorta's team broke their 40-year unbeaten streak without losing a qualifier.
The main thrills came in the second half: Erwin Sanchez had a golden chance to open the scoring with a penalty kick, but goalkeeper Taffarel blocked the shot with his legs. His luck changed at the end of the match.
With the clock ticking down, Marco Antonio Etcheverry received a long pass and piled up several players on the left. The Devil's Devil delayed his decision and ran out of angle, so he decided to send a low cross in search of a teammate. His shot went straight to Taffarel, who made a real accident of it by bouncing the ball into his own net with his foot in the 88th minute.
The explosion of the Hernando Siles had not yet silenced its echoes when Brazil went all out in search of the equalizer. Álvaro Peña received a brilliant pass from Etcheverry to face and beat Taffarel again with a dry right-footed shot in the 89th minute to the delight of the fans.
Bolivia's starting line-up that afternoon was as follows: Carlos Leonel Trucco, Miguel Rimba, Gustavo Quinteros, Marco Sandy, Carlos Borja, Luis Cristaldo, Milton Melgar, Julio Baldivieso, Erwin Sanchez (Ramiro Castillo), Marco Etcheverry and William Ramallo (Alvaro Pena).
Brazil played with Taffarel, Cafú, Valber, Marcio Santos, Leonardo, Mauro Silva, Luis Enrique (Jorginho) Zinho, Raí (Palinha) Bebeto and Muller.
The other two victories
Eight years later, Bolivia achieved its second victory over the Brazilians by defeating them 3-1 in a match valid for the 2002 Korea-Japan qualifiers. Edilson gave the visitors the lead, then Líder Paz equalized and Julio César Baldivieso scored the remaining two goals, the last one a long-distance free kick that beat goalkeeper Marcos in the north goal of the Siles.
The last time we beat the Canarinha was in the qualifiers for South Africa 2010. Under Erwin Sanchez, La Verde won 2-1 in a match that took place on October 10, 2009. Edgar Olivares and Marcelo Martins scored for the national team and Nilmar for the visitors.
Times are different, the teams that beat Brazil in La Paz had other players who made a difference on the field; today the outlook is very different, but La Verde has in its favor the fear that its rival has always expressed of playing in Miraflores.
The pentacampeón has played 126 knockout matches in 13 editions. Others who have beaten them are Argentina (2), Paraguay (2), Chile (2), Ecuador (2) and Uruguay (1); but Bolivia defeated them on three occasions. On Tuesday will the fourth contrast be able to arrive?
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