The CONMEBOL section of the qualification for the 1988 Olympic Games football tournament was entirely played out in Bolivia in the space of a couple of April and May 1987 weeks. These were Argentina’s results in the first group stage, all matches played in Cochabamba:
19/4-87: Chile 1-1 (Dertycia)
21/4-87: Ecuador 0-0
23/4-87: Venezuela 2-0 (Troglio, Perazzo)
27/4-87: Bolivia 3-0 (Caniggia, Troglio, Funes)
This saw the Argentinians through to the second and final group stage as winners. Their results in the final phase of the qualification, taking place in La Paz:
29/4-87: Brazil 2-0 (Perazzo, Alfaro)
1/5-87: Bolivia 0-0
3/5-87: Colombia 0-1
It was tight, but the Argentina select squeezed through to South Korea as runners-up in a group where two points only devided top and bottom. Argentina lost their final qualifier, but since it was a single goal margin defeat against the Colombians, it was mathematically impossible for both of Brazil and Bolivia to finish above them. The two South American giants joined forces in going through to the tournament proper.
In charge of the Olympic team was Carlos Bilardo’s assistant Carlos Pachamé. He had selected this squad of 19 players to travel to Seoul:
1 Luis Islas, 22, Independiente (goalkeeper)
2 Rubén Agüero, 28, Estudiantes (defender)
3 Mauro Aires, 19, Gimnasia (forward)
4 Carlos Alfaro Moreno, 23, Platense (forward)
5 Alberto Boggio, 19, Rosario Central (defender)
6 Claudio Cabrera, 24, Vélez Sársfield (midfielder)
7 Jorge Comas, 28 Boca Juniors (forward)
8 Hernán Díaz, 23, Rosario Central (midfielder)
9 Néstor Fabbri, 20, Racing Club (defender)
10 Darío Siviski, 25, San Lorenzo (midfielder)
11 Néstor Lorenzo, 22, Argentinos Juniors (defender)
12 Fabián Cancelarich, 22, Ferro Carril Oeste (goalkeeper)
13 Daniel Aníbal Hernández, 18, Independiente (midfielder)
14 Carlos Mayor, 23, Argentinos Juniors (defender)
15 Pedro Monzón, 26, Independiente (defender)
16 Hugo Pérez, 19, Racing Club (midfielder)
17 Alejandro Ruidiaz, 19, Independiente (midfielder)
18 Alejandro Russo, 20, Estudiantes (forward)
19 Mario Lucca, 27, Vélez Sársfield (defender)
As the observant eye will see, there were not a whole lot of names with a World Cup pedigree, past or future, but they would at least make it out from the group stage, albeit an old adversary would put a dent in their ambitions at the quarter-finals stage. These were their results:
Group C:
18/9: USA 1-1 (Alfaro, pen.)
20/9: Soviet Union 1-2 (Alfaro, pen.)
22/9: South Korea 2-1 (Alfaro, Fabbri)
Quarter-final:
25/9: Brazil 0-1