Wonder why there's so much controversy about playing international matches at high altitude?
Four days after Diego Maradona's Argentina looked like world beaters in a 4-0 victory over Venezuela, it traveled to La Paz, at almost 11,000 feet above sea level, and got hammered by Bolivia, 6-1.
Ironically, the former Argentine star had backed Bolivia's campaign to get FIFA's ban on matches at high altitude lifted.
"Every Bolivia goal was a stab in my heart," Maradona said afterward. "If we had dreamed this was going to happen before the game, we would have thought it was impossible."
The loss was Argentina's worst since its 5-0 home loss to Colombia in 1993 and dropped it to fourth place in the South American standings only two points ahead of Uruguay.The top four teams advance to the World Cup, while the fifth-place team meets the No. 4 Concacaf team in a playoff.
No comments:
Post a Comment