Bolivia’s dream of reaching the World Cup for only the fourth time in history was given another boost on Thursday after the minnows stunned Colombia 1-0 in South American qualifiers for the 2026 finals.
A superb individual goal from Miguel Terceros handed the Bolivians their fourth victory of qualifying and vaulted them up into the automatic qualification places.
Bolivia’s fortunes have taken a dramatic upturn since the country started playing home qualifiers in El Alto, which is situated more than 4,000m (13,100 feet) above sea level.
El Alto — Spanish for “The Heights” — is around 400m higher than the Bolivians’ usual home venue of the Estadio Hernando Siles in neighboring La Paz, which is 3,600m above sea level.
Bolivia opted to move fixtures to El Alto after losing two out of their opening three home qualifiers in La Paz last year.
The move has paid off, with Thursday’s 1-0 win coming after a 4-0 rout of Venezuela at the same venue in September.
After claiming a shock 2-1 win away to Chile last month, Bolivia are now sitting in fourth place in the South American standings with 12 points from nine games.
The top six finishers in the round-robin tournament qualify automatically for the 2026 World Cup in North America, which is being expanded to 48 teams for the first time.
Bolivia last qualified for the World Cup at the 1994 finals in the United States, and played at the 1930 and 1950 tournaments after receiving invites to compete.
On current form Bolivia may yet reach the 2026 finals on merit after overcoming a 20th-minute red card to central midfielder Hector Cuellar to dig out victory over in-form Colombia, who remain second in the table.
Terceros’s winning goal arrived in the 58th minute, with the 20-year-old winger who plays for Brazilian club Santos cutting in from the right flank, shimmying past Colombian defenders Jhon Lucumi and Kevin Castano and unleashing a left-footed thunderbolt that flew into the top corner.
In other South American qualifying action on Thursday, Ecuador were taking on Paraguay in Quito while Lionel Messi and world champions Argentina were facing an away game against Venezuela in Maturin.
In the late game, Brazil face Chile in Santiago.
