Overview
The Iraq vs Bolivia match will take place at 10:00 AM on April 1st, at Monterrey Stadium in Mexico. The winner of this match will play in Group I at the 2026 World Cup along with France, Norway and Senegal.
40 years after their only appearance at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, the Iraqi national team hopes that this North American nation will once again witness their historic moment.
The Iraqi national team passed the fifth qualifying round of the AFC with a dramatic 3-2 victory over the UAE to win a ticket to the Intercontinental play-offs. Graham Arnold's team spent more than a week in Monterrey before the match against Bolivia. They won the hearts of local people, which promises to help them receive enthusiastic cheers from the stands.
Meanwhile, the Bolivian team reversed the score to defeat Suriname with a score of 2-1 to enter the match against Iraq. Like Iraq, Bolivia is pursuing the World Cup dream after many years of waiting, because the 1994 World Cup was the last time this South American team participated in the world finals.
Notable players
Although Iraq will be without goalkeeper and captain Jalal Hassan and left-back Ahmed Yahya due to injury, Arnold's squad still possesses many talents. Ali Jasim has shone in the qualifiers and this 22-year-old striker will certainly be a major threat to the Bolivian defense.
When mentioning Iraq and scoring ability, the first name that immediately appeared in his head was Aymen Hussein. This 30-year-old striker has scored 8 goals in the Asian qualifiers and this player really wants to continue to improve that achievement at Monterrey.
On the Bolivian side, the midfield trio including Moises Paniagua, Ramiro Vaca and striker Miguel Terceros have the ability to operate widely, playing very well together. They showed this in the final period in the victory over Suriname. This trio is expected to do the same in the match against the "Mesopotamia Lions", helping the team get a ticket to the World Cup.
Statistics
Previously, Iraq and Bolivia had met once, which was a 0-0 draw in a friendly match held in Dubai in November 2018.
Iraq's performance against teams in South America is very poor. In 8 encounters with teams in this region, they only had 2 draws, 6 defeats. The only previous encounter between Iraq and a South American team in an official match was a 0-1 defeat to Paraguay in the group stage of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
Iraq has only lost 3 of their last 23 World Cup qualifying matches (13 wins, 7 draws).
Bolivia's record against Asian regional teams (AFC) is 18 encounters, including 4 wins, 7 losses and 7 draws. Their most recent encounters with Asian teams were a 0-2 away defeat to South Korea and a 0-3 away defeat to Japan in friendly matches in November 2025.
Previously, Bolivia faced an AFC team in a FIFA tournament in Mexico, with a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia at the Estadio Azteca stadium in the 1999 Confederations Cup group stage. Their only other FIFA match against an AFC team was also a 0-0 draw, this time with South Korea in Boston in the 1994 World Cup group stage.
Miguel Terceros of Bolivia has scored 8 goals in his last 12 appearances in the World Cup qualifiers.
