Argentina sweeps Bolivia 3-0 in La Paz

The Argentine national team bared its real fangs in the absence of Lionel Messi due to injury, returning from the Bolivian capital, La Paz, with a wide victory of 3 unanswered goals, in the second round of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

The Argentine national team regained the lead in the South American group after this great victory over Bolivia, awaiting the result of Brazil’s match with Peru.

The Bolivia national team’s match against Argentina began at the Estadio Hernando Siles stadium in the Bolivian capital, La Paz, at 23:00 Cairo time, 21:00 GMT, and was broadcast on the Argentinian channels Publica, Croatia’s Arena Sport 2, and Serbia’s Arena Sport 2 Premium, in addition to the Serbian channel Match TV.

The Argentine national team ended the first half in its favor 2-0, after Enzo Fernandez scored the first goal in the 31st minute after a pass from the brilliant Angel Di Maria.

Left-back Nicolas Tagliafico added the second goal for Argentina in the 42nd minute, with many assists from the star of the match, Angel Di Maria.
The Bolivian national team completed the match with 10 players after its player, Roberto Fernandez, was sent off with a direct red card in the 39th minute due to roughness.

In the last ten minutes of the match, Italian Fiorentina player Nicolas Gonzalez added the third goal for Argentina in the 83rd minute thanks to a pass from Ezequiel Palacios.

Messi absent from the La Paz summit due to injury
The Argentine national team’s coach, Lionel Scaloni, excluded the star and captain of the first team, Lionel Messi, from today’s match due to being injured in the opening match of the qualifiers against the Ecuadorian national team.

The defending World Cup champion won with great difficulty over Ecuador with an unanswered goal scored by Lionel Messi from a direct free kick during the last 10 minutes of the match.

While the Bolivia national team received 5 goals to one in the opening match against the Brazilian national team, continuing its failure to achieve any victory since the friendly match with Saudi Arabia at the end of March 2023, where it lost three times to Ecuador, Panama, and Brazil, and tied with Chile 0/0 in a friendly match.

The last confrontation between Argentina and Bolivia witnessed an outright victory for the tango dancers with a score of 3-0 in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, and the match was held on September 10, 2021.

The last victory achieved by the Bolivia national team over Argentina dates back to March 2017, with a score of 2-0, in La Paz, in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

The historic double was scored by Juan Arce and Marcelo Moreno in the 31st and 52nd minutes, and Messi missed the match due to injury.