World Cup 2014 Antepost Betting: Don't bank on Bolivia being in Brazil

Bolivia boss Xabier Azkargorta

With World Cup 2014 approaching, Ed Malyon is taking us through the contenders from the CONMEBOL region and assessing their chances of glory in Brazil...

Bolivia

Bolivia are the eternal outsiders of South American football, with only Venezuela having a worse competitive record in the CONMEBOL federation.

While the Vinotinto's recent improvement saw them finish fourth at the 2011 Copa America, Bolivia still managed to go out at the first round stage in a competition where the underdogs flourished.

Their current manager is Xabier Azkargorta, with the Basque manager having guided them to a World Cup in his first spell in charge in 1993/94. His chances of repeating that this time round are very slim though, with them currently four points off a playoff place, but with underachieving Paraguay behind them and sure to improve.

As with their clubs in continental competitions like the Copa Libertadores, the huge advantage of being from Bolivia comes from the altitude, as Argentina found when they were thumped 6-1 in La Paz under Diego Maradona.

Two wins from their five home games so far simply isn't enough though, and Bolivia would have to produce a miracle in the Andes (and away from home too) to have a chance of sneaking their way to Brazil 2014.

How will they line up?

In a word, defensively.

Their main objective is to frustrate teams and hold them out, with the defence well-mashalled by skipper Ronald Raldes.

Up front they have Marcelo Moreno and Carlos Saucedo, with Moreno providing the leg-work and Saucedo the finishing - as Uruguay found out when he bagged a hat-trick against them in October.

Strengths

Altitude. If Bolivia had to play all their games at sea level then you would fear for them a bit, and indeed their Siles stadium was originally banned by FIFA for being too high up, but the world governing body made an exception to the rule so that La Verde could play there.

Weaknesses

The infrastructure is so poor that it's impossible to see where the next batch of talented kids are going to come from. Bolivian players are never short in industry but they are often short on technical ability, and unless they produce a freak player or improve the country's football setup then nothing will change anytime soon.

What do the odds say?

They don't say anything really, it's more of a laugh. Bolivia are available to back at 1000.0n/a in the World Cup 2014 Winner market, and even that is a tad short.

The verdict

Unbackable, and they won't qualify.