Scotland Confirm Final World Cup Warm-Up Against Bolivia

Scotland have confirmed a friendly against Bolivia in New Jersey on Saturday, 6 June as their final warm-up game before this summer’s World Cup finals.

Bolivia missed out on qualifying for the tournament in the Americas after losing their inter-confederation play-off final 2-1 to Iraq in Guadalupe, Mexico, last week.

Steve Clarke’s Scots suffered 1-0 friendly defeats by Japan and by Ivory Coast earlier this month.

But they have two more chances to improve their results before their World Cup opener against Haiti on 14 June in Massachusetts, when Curacao visit Hampden on 30 May and when they face the Bolivians at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison.

Peru and Venezuela – two other South American sides who failed to reach the finals – had been touted as possible final warm-up opponents for Scotland, but instead they will face Bolivia for the first time.

It completes a series of friendlies against teams from the same federations as Scotland’s three Group C opponents – Brazil, Morocco and Haiti.

“It’s good to be able to confirm our final friendly, which will round off our preparations for the tournament,” head coach Clarke said.

“Bolivia will provide us with a feel for South American opposition, and will no doubt give us a stern test as they recover from the disappointment of defeat in the World Cup play-offs.”

Bolivia are currently ranked 76th in the world – 70 places lower than Brazil and 33 below Scotland, who are down five places after their latest two friendly defeats.

They finished seventh, above Venezuela and Peru, and only two places behind Brazil in South America’s World Cup qualifying group.

Most notably, they rounded off the group stage with a 1-0 home win over the Brazilians at altitude in September.

That qualified them for the inter-continental play-offs and, although they defeated Suriname 2-1 in their semi-final, they fell short in their attempt to qualify for the finals for the first time since 1994 after losing 2-1 to the 57th-ranked Iraqis.

Twelve of Villegas’ current 28-man squad play in their homeland, with three in Europe and the rest spread around clubs in North and South America, Asia and the Middle East.