WORLD CUP: Playing at altitude

As with many sports, playing at altitude favours some teams and competitors but not others. Fitness is a valued commodity.

Horses for courses is the best policy here. And that brings us to the World Cup in South Africa.

As good as they are, Brazil did not win one qualifying match at altitude in South America!

GROUP A:

Mexico plays nearly of its home matches at altitude (leaving their opponents gasping!) and guess what? All their WC group matches are all at altitude!

Vs South Africa at Johannesburg (1753m)

Vs France at Polokwane (1310m)

Vs Uruguay at Rustenburg (1500m)

Worth bearing in mind ....

GROUP C:

England are heavily favoured to qualify from this group but are very suspect with the fitness of key players Rooney, Ferdinand, Terry and Barry.

England were dreadful recently against Japan at altitude in Austria.

Now they have omitted their glamour boy, Arsenal star Theo Walcott, to howls of disapproval (he scored a hat-trick vs Croatia in qualifying!), not to mention Wayne Bridge withdrawing for 'personal' reasons.

England play USA at Rustenburg in their first Group match.

This is also the venue where the USA beat Spain and led Brazil 2-0 (before losing 2-3) in the Confederations Cup a year ago!

We will worry about the matches another time but, for now, some long range future bets:

$25 on Mexico to qualify to next stage from Group A at $1.95

$25 on USA to qualify to next stage from Group C at $1.70