One step away from the World Cup dream. The Bolivian and Jamaican teams advanced to the decisive matches of the intercontinental playoff for the last two free spots for the 2026 World Cup, which will take place from June 11 in the United States, Mexico and Canada with the participation of 48 countries.
Bolivia, which seeks to play in the World Cup for the fourth time in its history and end an absence that has lasted 32 years, will face Iraq on Tuesday, March 31, the same day that Jamaica, determined to repeat the experience obtained in France’98, will clash with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The winning team of the play-off final Iraq vs. Bolivia will fall into Group “I” of the next World Cup where the teams of France, Senegal and Norway are paired.
And the winner of the final Jamaica vs. The Democratic Republic of the Congo will join the teams from Portugal, Uzbekistan and Colombia in Group “K” of the World Cup.
With their goals, young Moisés Paniagua (18 years old) and Miguel Terceros (21 years old) turned the tide in the match against Suriname that put Bolivia in Tuesday’s final against Iraq, whose only World Cup was played precisely in Mexico, in 1986.
“La Verde” and the “Lions of Mesopotamia” will face each other at the BBVA stadium in the Mexican city of Monterrey, the same venue in which those led by Oscar Villegas defeated Suriname 2-1 with a comeback this Thursday, which went ahead with a goal from Liam van Gelderen.
And the Akron stadium, in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, was the scene of Jamaica’s victory over New Caledonia 0-1 with a goal from young Bailey Cadamarteri (20 years old). And it will also host Tuesday’s final between the “Reggae Boyz” and the “Leopards”, who have a distant history in the World Cup, Germany’74, under the name of Zaire.
Bolivian revelry
The Bolivian team went from strength to strength to defeat its Suriname counterpart in Monterrey (Mexico) in the intercontinental playoff for the 2026 World Cup and was one win away from qualifying.
Moisés Paniagua and Miguel Teceros converted for the Bolivians, after Suriname took the lead with a goal from Liam Van Gelderen.
The Bolivians had possession of the ball in their favor, 68-32 in a first half in which both teams created danger at the opposing goal, but lacked aim.
Suriname came close to opening the scoring in the 28th minute when Gyrano Kerk appeared on the wing and put a ball to Joel Piroe, who finished wide.
On the other hand, Enzo Monteiro arrived at the area with everything in his favor in the 32nd minute and finished from the outside, after a pass from Ronson Matheus, in the best play for the Bolivians, who suffered in the last 15 minutes of the match.
Kerk, Suriname’s best player, created danger again in the 34th minute with an assist to Piroe. The defense diverted a corner kick and kept the goal defended by Guillermo Viscarra, who saved Bolivia in the 35th minute, by deflecting a ball from Myenty Abena into the net with his face.
Already in the second half, Suriname took advantage at the beginning; Van Gelderen rescued a ball after a series of rebounds in the six-yard box and hit the goal from the right to make it 0-1.
The duel passed with interruptions; Bolivia was patient, improved and in the 72nd minute they tied with a goal from Paniagua with a kick to the base of the post, 1-1, after which, ‘La Verde’ grew against a Surinamese team that showed fatigue.
During that period, Jamaican defender Myenty Abena committed a foul in the area on Juan Godoy and thus caused a penalty that the “crack” Miguelito Terceros converted with his left foot in the 79th minute, to give the Altiplano team the victory.
When Suriname won, its players faked fouls to stall for time. Bolivia did the same by going ahead, which caused 10 added minutes that passed with little football but great emotion, the Bolivians well planted on defense; the Surinamese exhausted.
This is how the final whistle sounded declaring the triumph of Bolivia, which played in a World Cup for the last time in the 1994 United States edition, and will face Iraq next Tuesday, March 31 (11 pm ET) for the ticket to this summer’s World Cup. The winning country will play in group “I” against France, Senegal and Norway.
– Bolivia (2): Guillermo Viscarra; Efraín Morales, Luis Haquín, Roberto Fernández, Diego Medina; Gabriel Villamil, Héctor Cuéllar (Moisés Paniagua m.72), Robson Matheus (Ervin Vaca m.89); Ramiro Vaca (Diego Arroyo m.89), Miguel Terceros, Enzo Monteiros (Juan Godoy m.74).
– Selector: Oscar Villegas.
– Suriname (1): Etienne Vaessen; Myenty Abena, Stefano Denswill (Sheraldo Becker m.84), Liam Van Gelderen (Denzel Jubitanan m.86); Shaquille Pinas (Anfernee Dijksteel m.70), Jean-Paul Boëtius (Radino Balker m.46), Melayro Bogarde (Dion Malone m.84), Djavan Anderson, Tjaronn Chery; Gyrano Kerk, Joel Piroe.
– Selector: Henk Ten Cate.
– Goals: 0-1, m.48: Liam Van Gelderen; 1-1, m.72: Moisés Paniagua; 2-1, m.79: Miguel Terceros, penalty.
– Referee: Alireza Faghani (from Australia). He admonished Vaca, Terceros, Haquín; Boëtius, Bogarde, Pinas and Dijksteel.
– Incidents: Intercontinental play-off match for the 2026 World Cup between the Bolivian and Suriname teams played at the BBVA stadium in Monterrey, northern Mexico, in front of about 33,500 fans.
