High Flyers.

In what will be the first World Cup to be played at altitude since the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, the affects of altitude on the players is up for discussion in many quarters. When you think that Argentina won the 1986 World Cup and Brazil won the previous World cup at altitude in 1970, it is starting to look good for those of you who have placed bets on the the South American teams. While it would be a big stretch to say that altitude played a major part in both these countries victories, as they were both led by the outstanding players of their generation and the Brazilian team of 1970 will go down in history as one of the all time great footballing teams, in the tighter games it could be the difference between success and failure.

When you add in thee fact that the some of the games from the South American World Cup Qualifiers are played at altitude, the odds on a South American side bringing home the trophy begin to stack up. There is no doubt that previous experience at playing top level games at altitude and how to recover from the effects of altitude is something that the top European teams will not be used to and it gives the South American sides a big advantage.

So what are the ways that teams can counteract this South American advantage. According to most medical experts there are 2 ways to approach the issue of altitude for top sporting professionals. One is to fly in as close to the game as possible and the second is immerse yourself in the conditions a full six weeks beforehand. Most teams seem to be be landing a week or so before there game. This seems to go against all medical advice. Brazil have been in South Africa for the last 3 weeks. It seems they are getting their preparation spot on and added to this their previous experience at playing at altitude, it all points towards once again that Brazil will be able to win a World Cup outside of their own continent.

Finally a interesting aspect to the issue of altitude is that it seems that the older players suffer less of the effects of altitude than the younger players. As a result the older teams such as Italy Brazil and the oldest team at the competition England, will look to take advantage of this.

Before anybody goes out and places all of their mortgage on Brazil or Argentina, it should be taken into account that 3 of the matches are played at sea level and none of the games will be played above 2000 metres, where the affects of altitude really start to kick in. All in all, its going to be an interesting World Cup and if the 1986 World cup is anything go go by, there will be plenty of long range efforts flying into the top corner.

Further Reading