Bolivia Slam Argentina 6-1—April Fool's Day?

S B by Senior Analyst Written on April 01, 2009
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Yes, Argentina did lose to Bolívia  6-1 this Wednesday.
No,this isn't some April Fool's Day prank.
Played in the Bolivian capital, La Paz, for the 12th. round of the South American elimination rounds for the 2010 World Cup, this was Diego Maradona's first defeat at the helm.
Argentina had previously won matches versus Scotland, France and Venezuela with Maradona in charge.
However these matches proved to be little preparation for, what many consider the toughest tournament on earth—the South American Qualifiers.

Bolívia got things going at the 11 minute mark with an, ex-Cruzeiro striker Marcelo Moreno strike, and Argentina managed to level proceedings on 24 with a Lucho González shot from outside, a bit favored by the altitude.

Five minutes later Botero scored a penalty for Bolivian goal number two and still in the first half Da Rosa made it three.

Counting on the 3,650 meters of altitude, Bolívia kept the rhythm going in the second half.

Just eight minutes into the second half Botero made it four and on 20 minutes he completed his hat-trick and an unbelievable 5-1 the scoreboard read.

Botero is the top scorer so far in this competition ahead of names like Kaka, Messi, Riquelme, Robinho, Ronaldinho, and the other host of superstars.

On 41 minutes in the second half, with a physically and mentally exhausted Argentina praying for the end,  Bolívia stuck in number six. A weak shot from outside, low, with a curious bounce, beat Argentine goalie Carrizo.

With the loss, Argentina stay on 19 points and could plunge to fourth place depending on other results tonight.

Bolivia with 12 points remain second to last a shade better than Peru, who meet Brazil in Brazil tonight and are not really fancied to pull off any miracles.

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written on April 01, 2009 Game Recap

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