La Paz F.C. - Recent Results

Recent Results

2007 Season

During the entire year of 2007, La Paz F.C. was consistently the best professional team in Bolivia. It started the year by winning the six-team pre season round robin called Copa Aerosur del Sur, finished third in Apertura 2007 and second in Clausura 2007. Had Apertura 2007 and Clausura 2007 been combined into one tournament, La Paz F.C. would have been the absolute champion. The team almost delivered a thrilling year-end surprise, as they nearly won the Clausura 2007 tournament, losing 1-0 in the final match against San José, a feat never achieved by such a minor team. San José had the benefit of receiving substantial financial and moral support from the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales. La Paz F.C. has become a favorite of local sports journalists, who have dubbed the team "bueno, bonito y barato" ("good quality, good looking, and good price").

During the 2007 season, the standouts on La Paz F.C. were its attacking midfielder Ronald Gutierrez, team leader in goals scored with eight, forward Augusto Andaveris, with seven goals scored, and its goalkeeper Mauro Machado, who had the least-scored-upon goal in the Bolivian First Division. Gutierrez and Andaveris have been selected to play for the Bolivian national team. Machado is Brazilian.

La Paz F.C. is one of three Bolivian representatives in the Copa Libertadores 2008 South American champions league. La Paz F.C. played in the preliminary round, with away and home legs in Guadalajara, Mexico on January 30, 2008 and La Paz, Bolivia on February 6, 2008, respectively. The team's opponent was F.C. Atlas, which was one of the winners of the Mexican Interliga 2008 tournament. On January 30 in Guadalajara, F.C. Atlas defeated La Paz F.C. 2-0. La Paz F.C. was disadvantaged by the fact that its star player Ronald Gutierrez did not play. He signed with Turkish First Division team Bursaspor only days before the game against F.C. Atlas. On February 6 in La Paz, La Paz F.C. avenged its loss in Guadalajara, defeating F.C. Atlas 1-0. However, F.C. Atlas advanced to the next round because of its favorable goal differential. Thereafter, F.C. Atlas advanced through both the group stage and the round of sixteen, narrowly losing to Boca Juniors 3-2 in the quarter-finals.

2008 Season

'Apertura 2008'

In Apertura 2008, La Paz F.C. finished second. In addition, La Paz F.C. was the second most prolific goal-scoring team in the league. After seven games, La Paz F.C. was in third place in the standings, only one point behind co-leaders Club Universitario and Oriente Petrolero. A three-game losing streak dropped La Paz F.C. to the middle of the standings. However, La Paz F.C. broke the losing streak by winning three games in a row, scoring five goals in back-to-back victories (5-2 against Club San Jose and 5-0 against Real Mamore) and winning 4-2 against Oriente Petrolero. Going into the last round of Apertura 2008, La Paz F.C. was in third place in the standings, behind eventual champion Universitario de Sucre and last season's Clausura 2007 champion Club an Jose de Oruro. That set the stage for a reprise of the season-ending playoff in Oruro between Club San Jose and La Paz F.C.that closed Clausura 2007. This time, however, it was the turn of La Paz F.C. to prevail, 2-1, thereby capturing both second place in Apertura 2008 as well as a berth in the Copa Sudamericana.

The year 2008 began auspiciously for La Paz F.C. when, in January, La Paz F.C. signed talented Brazilian striker Regis de Souza, formerly with Oriente Petrolero. De Souza is left-footed and has explosive speed. He has successfully filled the leadership role left vacant by the departure of Ronald Gutierrez. In the first six games of Apertura 2008, De Souza scored six goals, including, among others, a free kick over a wall, a header, and a right-footed shot from outside the penalty area. After nineteen games, De Souza has scored nine goals.

In February 2008, La Paz F.C. lost promising American defender Kyle Zenoni to a foot injury (hairline fracture). Zenoni had made his Copa Libertadores 2008 debut against F.C. Atlas in Guadalajara in late January.

In March 2008, forward Augusto Andaveris traveled to Hong Kong for a try out with Chinese First Division team Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C., for whom Andaveris played one exhibition game and scored one goal. However, definitive commercial terms for his transfer were not reached, and, thus, Andaveris returned to Bolivia in April. Eduardo Fierro, a young striker from Paraguay, stepped into the position left vacant by Andaveris and scored two goals in his first two games as a starter. Together with Carlos Vargas (6 goals), Alain Nino de Guzman (2 goals) and Erland Alvarez, Fierro will continue to challenge Andaveris for a spot on the first team.

However, Andaveris did not take long to reassert his place in the starting lineup. He has scored ten goals in Apertura 2008 despite missing four games. Moreover, he has had three games in which he scored two goals. Colombian midfielder Diomedes Pena has scored nine goals, mostly on penalty kicks. Bolivian midfielder Helmuth Gutierrez has scored two goals.

La Paz F.C. finished second in Apertura 2008.

'Clausura 2008'

La Paz F.C. finished fourth in Clausura 2008.

'Play-off 2008'

The goalkeeper Mauro Machado with another three players, quit the team. This was because the debut of the reserve goalkeeper José Peñarrieta. In a game La Paz F.C. - Blooming corresponding to Copa Aerosur, La Paz won 2-1 causing the penalties. La Paz F.C. won 4-3 the penalty round thanks to Peñarrieta. La Paz F.C. finished second in Play-off 2008.

2009 Season

'Apertura 2009'

The beginning of Apertura 2009 marked the triumphant return of Felix Berdeja as the Manager of the team. In his first game as Manager he faced Sergio Apaza's Blooming in Santa Cruz. Blooming fans expected an easy victim. La Paz F.C. had had a lackluster pre-season and Berdeja had had a scant two days on the job prior to the game, which was to be played at Blooming's home stadium. However, Berdeja worked his magic and, inexplicably, La Paz F.C. not only defeated Blooming but humiliated it, 5-3. Following the game, Apaza made an unfortunate statement to the press to the effect that "I lost this game, but I also won this game," alluding to the fact that the winning side had been under his management during the previous two seasons. This did not sit well with Blooming fans, who called for his head. Within 24 hours after the conclusion of the game Apaza had been fired from his job.

After fifteen games, La Paz F.C. is first in the "Apertura Tournament"