Are you enjoying watching the Soccer World Cup? I certainly am, irrespective of the fact that the hosts bombed out.
Did you know that there are five South American teams in the Soccer World Cup and they lead every group they are in (five out of eight groups in the competition)? So far they have played thirteen matches, having not lost once (won ten and drawn three). Between them, they have scored twenty-one times and only conceded four goals in the tournament thus far. I think that is very interesting indeed. And, besides for the fact that they are very good at soccer (!), there must be other reasons for it. Allow me to speculate (further than I previously have)..
Contrast the South American's success to the fact that almost every traditionally strong team from the northern hemisphere has already faltered in this tournament – Italy and France are out, Germany, England, Spain all struggling to find their best form. I am convinced that the current conditions in South Africa are playing a part in this. The winter is apparently unusually cold this year. The South American teams have just come from winter, so I doubt they spent their last few months practicing on a warm soft pitch. I wonder where the European teams spent their buildup time prior to travelling? Most teams will also find the turf in South Africa unusually hard, especially on the highveld where the winters are very dry. There is only summer rainfall in many parts of the country. Also, the pitches there are all pretty much a mile (or more) above sea level, so altitude is a factor. The stadiums at sea level are Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban. The rest are elevated and oxygen (or the lack thereof) can be a problem.
Now one may argue that the players are all in excellent physical condition and that fitness and these types of environmental factors don’t play a part. But they really do, especially if you are not prepared for it. Any squash player who has played in tournaments at varying altitudes knows it can be difficult to adjust, no matter how fit you are. If you live on the coast and are conditioned to playing there, then playing at altitude where there is less oxygen can really take its toll. It hits you in the throat very early on in a game, until you have adjusted – the cold does not help with this. And then it hits you again like a ton of bricks at the end of a game when you are reaching your aerobic threshold. Likewise, if you are conditioned to playing at altitude and come down to sea level you can find yourself in a spot of trouble. Your lungs will tell you that you can run forever, but you cannot, so your legs will certainly suffer a beating. In fact, if you do not pace yourself and adjust appropriately to your elevation (high or low), you could end up blowing during a match – you know - hitting the wall, running out of air, depleting your reserves of glycogen, a precipitous loss of energy owing to a massive oxygen deficit induced by overexertion....you get it. Anyway, every squash player knows exactly what I am talking about, because altitude affects everyone, at every level (except maybe Ramy; his games are not really long enough are they).
Aside from the South Americans who are looking very strong, another team that will benefit from these factors is the United States. The next game is in Rustenburg, a small town in the foothills of the Magaliesberg in the north west of the country. I know it well, less owing to the fact that I have family there and more because it is right next door to Sun City, which is South Africa’s equivalent of Las Vegas (hopefully the US team doesn’t know about it though; they need to stay focused). This town is right in the heart of the highveld and all of the above difficulty factors (elevation, temperature, turf) are most pronounced at this stadium. The US plays against Ghana there on Saturday. They are a very physical team, too, but they live and train at sea level, so it will be interesting to see if they start to fade at the end of the match. One can hope.
If I was the US coach I would tell the players to force the pace and just keep them working hard and eventually they may just blow....this strategy normally works well in another sport we all know.
Did you know that there are five South American teams in the Soccer World Cup and they lead every group they are in (five out of eight groups in the competition)? So far they have played thirteen matches, having not lost once (won ten and drawn three). Between them, they have scored twenty-one times and only conceded four goals in the tournament thus far. I think that is very interesting indeed. And, besides for the fact that they are very good at soccer (!), there must be other reasons for it. Allow me to speculate (further than I previously have)..
Contrast the South American's success to the fact that almost every traditionally strong team from the northern hemisphere has already faltered in this tournament – Italy and France are out, Germany, England, Spain all struggling to find their best form. I am convinced that the current conditions in South Africa are playing a part in this. The winter is apparently unusually cold this year. The South American teams have just come from winter, so I doubt they spent their last few months practicing on a warm soft pitch. I wonder where the European teams spent their buildup time prior to travelling? Most teams will also find the turf in South Africa unusually hard, especially on the highveld where the winters are very dry. There is only summer rainfall in many parts of the country. Also, the pitches there are all pretty much a mile (or more) above sea level, so altitude is a factor. The stadiums at sea level are Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban. The rest are elevated and oxygen (or the lack thereof) can be a problem.
Now one may argue that the players are all in excellent physical condition and that fitness and these types of environmental factors don’t play a part. But they really do, especially if you are not prepared for it. Any squash player who has played in tournaments at varying altitudes knows it can be difficult to adjust, no matter how fit you are. If you live on the coast and are conditioned to playing there, then playing at altitude where there is less oxygen can really take its toll. It hits you in the throat very early on in a game, until you have adjusted – the cold does not help with this. And then it hits you again like a ton of bricks at the end of a game when you are reaching your aerobic threshold. Likewise, if you are conditioned to playing at altitude and come down to sea level you can find yourself in a spot of trouble. Your lungs will tell you that you can run forever, but you cannot, so your legs will certainly suffer a beating. In fact, if you do not pace yourself and adjust appropriately to your elevation (high or low), you could end up blowing during a match – you know - hitting the wall, running out of air, depleting your reserves of glycogen, a precipitous loss of energy owing to a massive oxygen deficit induced by overexertion....you get it. Anyway, every squash player knows exactly what I am talking about, because altitude affects everyone, at every level (except maybe Ramy; his games are not really long enough are they).
Aside from the South Americans who are looking very strong, another team that will benefit from these factors is the United States. The next game is in Rustenburg, a small town in the foothills of the Magaliesberg in the north west of the country. I know it well, less owing to the fact that I have family there and more because it is right next door to Sun City, which is South Africa’s equivalent of Las Vegas (hopefully the US team doesn’t know about it though; they need to stay focused). This town is right in the heart of the highveld and all of the above difficulty factors (elevation, temperature, turf) are most pronounced at this stadium. The US plays against Ghana there on Saturday. They are a very physical team, too, but they live and train at sea level, so it will be interesting to see if they start to fade at the end of the match. One can hope.
If I was the US coach I would tell the players to force the pace and just keep them working hard and eventually they may just blow....this strategy normally works well in another sport we all know.
Reposted courtesy of Brett Erasmus from Brett's Squash Blog www.brettssquashblog.com
No comments:
Post a Comment