The altitude at which Bolivia plays has always been a concern and this time the torture will be 500 meters higher, in the Villa Ingenio Municipal stadium, in El Alto, the venue where those from the highlands want to take advantage of to return to a World Cup after 32 years.
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This Thursday’s game became a media duel to which Colombia’s coach, Néstor Lorenzo, put a piece of ice to reduce the fever.
“There are precautionary measures due to a possible lack of oxygen, just as we are preparing Thursday for that, in case of a special situation, also be prepared with the necessary elements,” concluded Lorenzo. And the DT is right. There is no single way to do things.
Colombia has tried several formulas and with all of them it has always scored points in the last 21 years. The only defeat was the 4-0 in 2003 that began to sentence the departure of Francisco Maturana.
This is how Leonel Álvarez achieved the first victory in qualifying in Bolivia
Colombia won for the first time in La Paz in the eliminatory on October 12, 2011, a 1-2 as a visitor with a goal from Dorlan Pabón and another, agonizing and coming from the bench, from Radamel Falcao García. In that match James Rodríguez debuted in the senior team, with the number 5 on his back.
That time, the National Team met and worked in Bogotá and only traveled to La Paz one day before the game. He also had the advantage of having rested on the first date, while his rival had just been beaten in Montevideo by Uruguay (4-2).
“Teams that have gone to propose have ended up defeated, so we will take precautions and we will play in an area that allows us to be aggressive and have judgment with the ball,” said the then coach of the Colombian National Team, and debutant at that time, Leonel Alvarez. The formula worked more than well.
“I want to see how many teams come to play the way Colombia played. We had nine goal approaches, seven clear ones, in a very difficult place against a team that at times made us retreat,” Leonel said after the game.
José Pékerman also managed to win in La Paz
Colombia repeated part of the formula on its trip to La Paz in March 2016, already with José Pékerman leading the team: he did the preparation in Bogotá and then took a direct flight on a private plane to Bolivian soil. That time, the Argentine coach surprised with the inclusion, both in the starting lineup and on the bench, of unusual players on the roster.
In that match there were several debutants with the National Team: the central defender Óscar Murillo (who was 28 years old), the left back Farid Díaz (32 years old) and the midfielders Guillermo Celis (23 years old) and Sebastián Pérez (about to turn 23) .
Pékerman also included on the bench a player who in those days stood out for Atlético Nacional, who months later would win the Copa Libertadores and who was fundamental in the ending of the match, when Bolivia, which was losing 0-2 at halftime, was He went over to Colombia and tied the game. It was about Marlos Moreno, a sharp winger who turned out to be a flower of a day, but that afternoon in La Paz he put together the play for the winning goal, scored by Edwin Cardona in added time.
Reinaldo Rueda’s ‘morphocycles’ formula
The most recent visit to Bolivia was on September 2, 2021, in the middle of an atypical tie, greatly affected by the pandemic: it was the first match of a triple date. The technician Reinaldo Ruedaweeks before the duel, he did a ‘morphocycle’ in Bogotá with tall players and several of them ended up in the call: Álex Mejía, Andrés Román, Baldomero Perlaza, Andrés Andrade and Yerson Candelo, who trained daily in the capital or in Garne.
It also included three who regularly played in Mexico City: Yairo Moreno, Óscar Murillo, and Roger Martínez. It was enough for him to get a tie. He was winning with a goal from Martínez, and Fernando Saucedo tied it eight minutes from the end.
Now, Lorenzo kept his base and cut flying hours by assembling the team in Cochabamba. This Thursday we will know if the formula worked.
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