Bolivia vs Argentina

A lopsided 2026 World Cup qualifying fixture pits Bolivia and Argentina against each other at the Estadio Hernando Siles in La Paz.

Bolivia’s 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign was off to a humiliating start as CONMEBOL heavyweights Brazil thumped them 5-1 in a curtain-raising fixture last week. Playing against reigning world champions Argentina won’t help their cause either, even though they’ve avoided defeat in two of their three most recent World Cup qualifying H2Hs on home turf (W1, D1). Indeed, the Bolivians have lost four of their last five home internationals (D1), conceding 2+ goals in each defeat. They also failed to score on three occasions during that sequence, casting further doubt on their bid to snap a three-game losing H2H run. But ‘La Verde’ can at least draw some confidence from racking up five unbeaten home matches in the last World Cup qualifying campaign (W4, D1, L4).

On the other hand, Argentina turned to their iconic forward Lionel Messi to provide them with an escape route against Ecuador last time out, with ‘La Pulga’ slotting home a superb free-kick to inspire ‘La Albiceleste’ to a narrow 1-0 home win in their opening 2026 World Cup qualifier. That victory has maintained Argentina’s perfect five-game record in 2023 (W5). Their defensive resilience under Lionel Scaloni has been off the charts, with the Argentineans yet to concede in the new calendar year, showing a long-overdue 2022 World Cup success was no fluke. Another shutout looks like an inevitable scenario, with Scaloni’s men keeping nine clean sheets in their last 11 World Cup qualifying fixtures (W8, D3).