Bolivia shock Ecuador to earn their first Copa America win since 1997

When you think of a “minnow” in international football, you think of small teams from small countries without a lot of talent in their sides. These are the squads that big national teams like Spain, Brazil, and Argentina use as cannon fodder to tune up for big tournaments. These are the teams like Bolivia.

The last 18 years have been a constant source of frustration for Bolivia. They’ve suffered a precipitous fall in world football that started with Brazil beating them in the final of the 1997 Copa America, which was also the last time they hosted South America’s premier tournament -- and also the last time they won a game in the Copa.

It’s been 17 years and 355 days since Bolivia beat Mexico 3-1 in the semifinals of that tournament, four days before they were beaten by the same scoreline at the hands of Brazil, who claimed their fifth Copa America title. Bolivia were hoping to win it for the first time since 1963, when the tournament was known as the South American Championship, but they fell short of their goal and kicked off almost two decades’ worth of frustration.

In the five Copa America tournaments played since then, Bolivia have not won a single match. They’ve gotten a few draws along the way, but not one win, and haven’t made it out of the group stage because of that failing. They’ve gotten a handful of wins in things like World Cup qualifying, but not enough to keep them from being known as arguably the worst side in South America.

Until today.

On Monday, they beat a pretty darn good Ecuador team. They shocked everyone watching by scoring three goals in the first half and finishing the match with a 3-2 win over a stunned Tricolor side that couldn’t believe what they’d just gone through. Two exploited defensive mistakes and a penalty were what got Bolivia this win, and their players and fans are more than happy for Ecuador’s poor defending.

Some fantastic goalkeeping from 22-year-old Romel Quiñónez and brave defending from Edward Zenteno, Ronald Raldes and Leonel Morales helped Bolivia weather the storm of Ecuador’s attempts to climb back into the match. Ecuador scored a goal three minutes into the second half, but some last-ditch heroics from the entire Bolivia team at one time or another let them keep their lead intact and earn their long-sought Copa America win. Even the wind blowing strongly against them in the second half couldn’t keep Bolivia down -- though it certainly helped Ecuador’s fantastic second goal -- and the rapturous celebration of the players, coaches, and fans was well-earned and wonderful to witness.

The best part? With this win, Bolivia are all but in the Copa America quarterfinals.

Thanks to playing Mexico to a standstill in their first match, Bolivia are on four points. Unless Mexico get a win and a draw in their last two matches, they can’t pass Bolivia for the second qualifying spot in the group -- and with how poor this El Tri squad loaded with fringe players has looked in their first match and in the warmups before it, that’s probably not going to happen. Even if they do, four points would give Bolivia a very strong shot at qualifying as one of the best two teams to finish in third place in their groups.

It’s a huge result, and a well-earned one for Bolivia. El Verde fought and scraped and clawed their way through this match, and today, for the first time in far too long, they get to celebrate on South America’s biggest stage.