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Sabella pleased with 'great' Bolivia draw

Despite remaining cautiously optimistic about his side's chances of reaching the finals in Brazil, the ex-Estudiantes boss was delighted to have left La Paz with a point Alejandro Sabella has hailed his Argentina players for overcoming the effects of playing at high altitude to rescue a 1-1 draw with Bolivia in World Cup 2014 qualifying on Tuesday. The Albiceleste went down to a Marcelo Moreno header midway through the first half, but a point was secured at the Hernando Siles - some 3,637m above sea level - thanks to Ever Banega on the cusp of half-time. "It was a great game and our performance in the last 25 minutes alone deserved a win. The group of players who produced this good result will have become stronger," Sabella said after the match. "But we must go slowly and think about the difficult games that lie ahead, even if we have a big chance of qualifying [for the World Cup finals in Brazil]. "These matches have proved that I have a tightly-knitted bunch who are consolidating themselves, but the others are also working very hard to make my task of [choosing a 23-man squad] even more difficult."