Bolivia surprises by calling a 38-year-old striker born in Colombia for the World Cup qualifiers

In the midst of the urgency to add their first victory in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the new coach of the Bolivian national team, the Brazilian Antonio Carlos Zago, surprised by including the 38-year-old Colombian-born forward Jair Alejandro in his first call-up. Reinoso Moreno.

Reinoso Mores, a nationalized Bolivian who has spent his entire professional career in soccer in that country, is the top scorer in the history of the Bolivian league with 166 goals, so the Zago team hopes that his experience and marksmanship will help them. Help in the games against Peru and Uruguay.

The Brazilian coach did not hesitate to give his arguments for what he considers it was right to include the veteran on the list, other than the fact that he is “the highest scoring Bolivian in the League.”

In that sense, he did not rule out that for these matches, which will be the last in 2023 as far as the South American qualifiers are concerned, a forward partnership between Reinoso and Marcelo Martins Moreno, the top scorer in the history of ‘ La Verde’, with 31.

The former Brazilian soccer player called up 27 players this Tuesday to face Peru and Uruguay in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, 19 are active in local League teams and the other 8 are playing abroad.

Zago said that the criteria he used for his first call to the front of ‘La Verde’ were “the moment that the players are experiencing”, the “historical” aspect in the national team and the “projection” of the youngest footballers.

The 54-year-old Brazilian coach took over the leadership of Bolivia last week, replacing the Argentine Gustavo Costas, who was dismissed after the Green team accumulated four defeats in the same number of outings in the qualifying rounds.

Among the ‘foreigners’ mentioned by the new coach are the captain and top scorer of the Verde Marcelo Martins Moreno of the Ecuadorian Independiente del Valle; as well as the defender of the Colombian Deportivo Cali Luis Haquín, the midfielder Henry Vaca of the Maccabi Bnei Reineh, and the striker Jaume Cuéllar of the Spanish Barcelona B.

Also notable are defender Roberto Carlos Fernández from the Russian Baltika; the midfielders Miguel Terceros who plays for the Brazilian Santos, Danny Bejarano from the ranks of the Cypriot Nea Salamina Famagusta and Moisés Villarroel from the Colombian Aguilas Doradas.

The Green coach considered that it is time to “join forces” and for the players to be “motivated and ready to play”, to reverse the situation facing Bolivia, which is at the bottom and without units in the classification.

“We are going to form the team with players who fit into what we want, how we are going to play,” he remarked.

Bolivia will begin training next Saturday to face the Peruvian team in La Paz on November 16, and then visit Uruguay on the 21st.

With information from EFE.

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