The Bolivian 1994 FIFA Team Was One of Only Three Bolivian Teams to Make the World Cup Competition
One of the most powerful soccer teams in South American history was the Bolivian national team of 1993 and 1994. They were the last team to make it to the world FIFA competition, which was held in Los Angeles in 1994. The 1994 squad was one of only three Bolivian teams to ever reach this greatest height of the soccer universe. What’s considered probably just as amazing is that the Bolivian team gained its FIFA birth by defeating mighty Brazil, the first time Brazil has been ousted from FIFA since 1963. It was considered a stunning achievement.
Among the brightest stars of the 1994 FIFA team was midfielder Romiro “Chocolatin” Casillo, who is considered to be one of the greatest Bolivian footballers stars ever to take the field. Although Casillo was not a frequent scorer, he made an amazing number of assists. His career began in 1985 and he played for a long time in Argentina for a variety of teams, but came back to Boliva in 1993. After leading his team past Brazil to gain the World Cup competition in 1994, Casillo also turned in spectacular performances in the 1997 Copa America.
Another great of the 1994 FIFA team was Marco Antonio Etcheverry. Like his teammate Casillo, Etcheverry is considered to be among the greatest of the greats in Bolivian soccer history. He scored a key goal to beat Brazil in the qualifying round that launched Bolivia into the World Cup competition. He led his team to three MLS Cups. He was named the MVP of MLS in 1998.
Erwin Sánchez was another bright star for at the 1994 FIFA. In fact, he was the only Bolivian to score during the tournament, when the team lost to Spain 3-1. He was also the first Bolivian player to play professionally in Europe. Although he spent most of his career in Portugal, Sánchez gained wide admiration for his play as a midfielder to propel his native land onto the world stage of MLS soccer.
The once all-time leading scorer in all of Major League Soccer history was Jamie Moreno, who held that distinction until he retired in 2010. Moreno, who played forward, was the first player to achieve 100 goals and 100 assists during a single career. He was a regular for the Bolivian national team through most of the 1990s.
One of the older players to play for the Bolivian 1994 FIFA team was Álvaro Peña. He was a striker, and played in more than 40 games for the Bolivian national team, scoring 4 goals. When he played for the San Jose club team, he was top scorer in 1992.
To this day, the Bolivian 1994 FIFA team is a source of national pride for the country, despite placing 21st in the tournament, and scoring just one goal. The only other years the Bolivian footballers gained a prescence in the World Cup competition was in 1930 and 1950. Simply getting to this event is an enormous accomplishment, and the footballers of the 1994 team who made it happen will never be forgotten among the Bolivian faithful.
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