Ok., here’s my World Cup blog entry. It has probably been inevitable. I admit that the World Cup 2010 in South Africa is not strictly speaking a Mallorcan affair. But. Spain is still in the bidding. And Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon) made it big in Mallorca, before he was sold on to Barcelona in 2004. Eto’o played for five seasons for Real Mallorca (1999-2004), and scored 54 goals in 133 league matches. Achille Webó (Cameroon) has been a RCD Mallorca player since 2007, and so was Yoshito Okubo (Japan), from 2005 to 2007.
Bolivia, as in today’s photo, did not qualify for the World Cup in South Africa. Somehow, the South American team did not win any of their nine away matches during the qualifications (eight losses and one draw). But Bolivia had notable wins at home such as beating Brazil 2-1, Paraguay 4-2, Argentina 6-1 and Peru 3-0; would you believe it?
Historically, Bolivia has always been one of the weaker teams within South American football. But Bolivia did play in the 1930 and 1950 World Cup tournaments. After that, they qualified only once, in 1994. They have never advanced past the first round of any World Cup, and have only scored one goal in the final stages, in 1994.
But Bolivia won the Copa América in 1963, so there.
If anything, this blog entry should serve to remind us that Brazil can be beaten. If Bolivia can do it, the Netherlands should be able to as well (July 2nd). And today, it will be Paraguay versus Japan, and tonight, Spain versus Portugal. Good luck, Spain.
The photo was taken in Palma de Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: June 17th, 2010. The time was 11:17:52.
The Mallorca Photo Blog 
Your blogs are normally very informative so I am surprised you did not include the reason Bolivia beat Brazil amongst others in their home matches in La Paz.
The reason can be found here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_altitude_football_controversy
hi john,
i reckon that it’s a matter of opinion. when bolivia beat argentina 6-1, on April 1st, 2009, maradona did not blame the altitude for argentina’s defeat, but gave credit to the bolivian players “from the goalkeeper to the last substitute”. brazil is the only south american country blaming high altitude. what counts in football is winning the match. one can all too easily blame the rain for having suffered a loss, or the noise, or the referee or whatever.
klaus
You were quite right. Just like you said, Brazil can be beaten, and in this case by someone least expected.
Kilina, Vila Rica, Brazil