Bolivia beat Colombia 1-0 with a superb goal and allow themselves to dream of a return to the World Cup.
(Spanish CNN) – Bolivia beat Colombia 1-0 thanks to a superb goal from Miguel Terceros to claim a third straight win in 2026 World Cup qualifiers. This is a huge win as she played most of the game with one less player due to Hector’s elimination. Cuellar.
In September, Bolivia beat Venezuela 4-0 at home and again added three points with a win away to Chile. Now, with 12 points in the standings, Bolivia allows itself to dream of returning to the World Cup.
It was Colombia’s first defeat in these qualifiers, the only team to go undefeated. Colombia has 16 points and currently sits second in Conmebol’s 2026 World Cup standings behind Argentina, but if Uruguay wins or draws with Peru in Lima on Friday it will lose that position.
At the beginning of the match, Bolivia wanted to force a quick game and made several shots from outside the penalty area, which did not damage the goal defended by Camilo Vargas. Colombia’s goalkeeper made just one rebound, which was rejected by the defense, and for several minutes Bolivia played like this, appealing to a goalkeeper error.
Colombia, for their part, tried to slow the pace at altitude with a combination of passes, but without attack.
The scene of the match changed in the 19th minute, when Colombian striker Roger Martinez seemed to be running one-on-one with the Bolivian goalkeeper, but not before being brought down by the latter player in a spectacular game.
The referee was persistent and sent off Hector Cuellar with a straight red card. Three minutes later, Martinez couldn’t stand it and was replaced by Jon Cordoba.
Cordoba was the face of Colombia, who knew how to take advantage of their numerical advantage and began to attack. The striker had the most obvious play at the moment (minute 29): a ball that drowned out the cry for a goal over coffee by crashing into the post. He had another opportunity later in the 37th minute, but his shot went very close to the goal defended by Guillermo Vizcarra.
Bolivia held on in the second half as Colombia tried to bolster their attacking firepower as coach Nestor Lorenzo dropped Matheus Uribe and brought on Richard Rios.
However, the next best thing was Miguel Terceros’ magnificent goal, an unassailable corner kick that opened the scoring at El Alto Municipal Stadium.
Colombia responded to the goal by moving the bench with a double change: John Arias and Kevin Castaño came on and Yacer Asprilla and Jefferson Lerma came on.
However, the constant for the visiting team was the lack of goals. Neither Lerma, nor Luis Diaz, nor Cordoba were able to score several times.
In the 68th minute, Bolivia decided to take advantage of their advantage by entering their field. He removed striker Terceros, the goal scorer, and brought in Luis Paz, a defender.
Liverpool skater Luis Diaz was replaced by Juan “Cucho” Hernandez in the 78th minute.
Colombia persisted and had several scoring chances, but failed to score. Cordoba failed to convert the shot correctly: the Bolivian goalkeeper deflected the ball off Lerma in stoppage time.
An immeasurable triumph for Bolivia, experiencing an unrivaled present. They will face Argentina on Tuesday, October 15, while Colombia will host Chile on the same day.