Point may suit Argentina in Bolivia

World Cup Conmebol qualifying
9pm Tuesday

Bolivian football is in such a mess that even allowing for their strong home advantage, La Verde aren’t easy to fancy against Argentina in La Paz.

That said, Argentina are also hard to like at the moment and while their World Cup qualification prospects are much improved after beating Chile, they’re going to take some backing at odds-on in a country where they don’t have a noteworthy recent record.

Bolivia’s great edge is the fact that their home ground, the Estadio Hernando Siles, is almost 12,000 feet above sea level, conditions that are awful to play in.

Even so Uruguay and Colombia have managed to win there during the current campaign, in which the Bolivians have failed to win any of their eight games against the continent’s big six.

The draw looks a decent option for this clash, however. A point would certainly suit the Albiceleste, who are up to third in the regional qualifying standings after their awful 1-0 success against Chile, a victory that was secured by a fortunate Lionel Messi penalty.

And the fact that Gonzalo Higuain is banned isn’t actually a disaster. He, Messi and Sergio Aguero simply don’t seem to work together and Edgardo Bauza will surely be tempted to simply play an extra body in midfield – Ever Banega would make sense – in a match where possession football and not much running are the watchwords.

Bolivia, almost inexplicably, rested a sextet of players from club side The Strongest in Colombia on Thursday, preferring to keep them fresh to face the Argentinians, though their qualification chances are long gone anyway.

Recommendation
Draw
1pt 14-5 Betway

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