2002 World Cup - Bolivia 3 Argentina 3

Argentina scored two late goals to draw 3-3 with Bolivia in La Paz.

The CONMEBOL group leaders remain on course for World Cup qualification but struggled to come to terms with the thin air in La Paz that always damages the chances for visiting teams to score a win.

Hernan Crespo started the late recovery in the 89th minute with his seventh goal of the competition and second of the match and Juan Pablo Sorin equalised in the second minute of injury time.

Crespo gave Argentina the chance to stay in the game with a shot from distance which curled beyond Bolivia goalkeeper Jose Carlos Fernandez and Sorin equalised following a free-kick taken by Veron.

Midfield stars Juan Veron and Diego Simeone suffered in the second half and could barely run after a week of flights from Italy and Buenos Aires and Lazio team mates Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez fared little better.

All four are needed by Lazio for the Rome derby at the weekend and face a long trip back to the Italian capital.

Defeat would have made that trip harder to bear and this looked likely after Luis Gatty Ribeiro crossed to the far post where Lider Paz headed in from close range with the Argentine defence totally absent. Paz had a goal disallowed only five minutes before.

Argentina took only three minutes to equalise when Crespo hit a first time shot from six metres after a corner had reached him in front of goal.

10 minutes into the second half, Joaquin Botero hit a diagonal pass to Percy Colque to volley the ball from close range.

Botero jumped over the Argentine defence to head the third in the 81st minute and it looked all over but Argentina produced a defiant finish.