The altitude has been Bolivia's strongest football asset for decades, after all, the country's national team only achieved success when it was the host country - in 1963 it was the South American champion, and in 1997 it was the runner-up.
Everything else, outside their homeland, was much more difficult - the "greens" never made it past the group stage at the World Cup, while at the Copa America they sometimes managed to reach the quarterfinals.
Thus, Argentina, with Lionel Messi on the field and Diego Maradona on the bench, was "holding its breath" when it was defeated 2009-6 in La Paz in 1, and struggled many times after that...
While Bolivia's matches during that period, including in past qualifiers, were played at the Hernando Siles Stadium in La Paz, at an altitude of 3.650 meters, the country's Football Association chose nearby El Alto in the battles for the 2026 World Cup.
And, that city and its "Estadio Municipal" are located even higher in the clouds - at 4.150 meters above sea level.
How difficult it is to play in such conditions was best felt these days by Uruguay, who are a much better team than Bolivia, who are in third place in the qualifiers, but who also practically did not have the ball in El Alto.
Marcel Bielsa's team can ultimately be overjoyed with the point they won (0:0), as they had possession of the ball for only 34 percent of the time and had no shots on goal and no great chances in 90 minutes.
At one point, José María Jiménez, the defender for Urus and Atletico Madrid, left the field, somewhat distraught, to get some much-needed oxygen.
However, the legendary "El Loco" believes that the conditions were not crucial.
"From my perspective, altitude is not a determining factor for Bolivia's quality. I think they would play the same on the plains. The idea of this team deserves attention and I think it can do a lot. I risk being ridiculed if Bolivia doesn't go to the World Cup, but I've watched them a lot and seen their quality," Bielsa said in a sports interview.
Bolivia is currently among the three worst teams in the South American qualifiers, in places that do not lead to the World Cup. However, it still has a chance to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1994, when it played Germany in the opening match.
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