Bolivia vs Chile

Estadio Hernando Siles is the venue as Bolivia and Chile go head-to-head in a potentially pivotal World Cup qualifying encounter.

With three games left for Bolivia in the ongoing qualifying cycle, a potential defeat here could strike irreversible damage on their hopes of reaching their first World Cup finals since 1994. The Bolivians have alternated between victories and defeats across their last four World Cup qualifying matches (W2, L2). Their rollercoaster performances have seen each fixture (win/lost) in that four-game run yield a full-time margin of 3+ goals, with three of them witnessing the winner keep a clean sheet. Back in La Paz, 3,640 meters above sea level, ‘La Verde’ will feel increasingly confident of maintaining their five-game unbeaten home streak in South American qualifiers (W4, D1). However, after losing three of their last four home World Cup qualifying H2Hs (W1), Cesar Farias’ men have no room for complacency.

In the meantime, Chile’s hopes of returning to the World Cup finals for the first time since 2014 have been thrown into doubt after they’ve gone from three consecutive wins ‘to nil’ to back-to-back defeats. With three fixtures left, the Chileans trail the inter-confederation play-off spot by three points, meaning an upset here is highly unwanted. However, their away form in the current World Cup qualifying campaign gives head coach Martin Lasarte plenty of reason for concern, with ‘La Roja’ picking up just one victory from their seven qualifiers on hostile soil so far (D2, L4). A lack of firepower up front has seen Chile score a measly average of 0.71 goals per away World Cup qualifier. Indeed, they have yet to bag more than one goal per such contest, fuelling the travelling fans’ fears.