Last week, Ecuador upset Brazil in soccer. Name an earth science-related phenomena that likely contributed to the upset?

In a World Cup soccer qualifying round, 4-time champion Brazil was shut out 1-0 by little Ecuador, on March 28. This was the first time in 22 attempts that Ecuador beat Brazil, South America's most populous nation and the world's 6th largest nation, and the victory was wildly celebrated. As a result of the loss, Brazil fell to third place in the South American division behind Argentina and Paraguay, however, the top 4 teams receive automatic berths to next year's World Cup in Korea and Japan. Ecuador is one of the teams contending for the 4th spot.

The difference between a win and a loss can be very subtle at the professional level. Of course, the team with the most skilled players usually wins, but coaching, refereeing, luck, and even the environment can play a role in deciding the winner. Since soccer has the least amount of scoring of any of the major sports, having any sort of advantage over your opponent is extremely important. Score first, and your team is likely to be victorious.

A big factor in the game between Ecuador and Brazil was the environment where the game was played. The home team in this case had a significant advantage. The game was played in Ecuador's capital city of Quito. At an altitude of almost 9,400 feet above sea level, conditioning and acclimation are crucial to performance. The Equadorian players were used to playing soccer at an elevation more than 1 3/4 miles above sea level. However, most all of the major cities in Brazil are near the sea, and thus the Brazilian players were not accustomed to playing at such a high altitude.

According to one news headline in Brazil, in order to simulate the playing conditions in Quito, Brazil's national team practiced in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Here's the actual headline.

RIO DE JANEIRO (EFE) - Brazil's national soccer team will travel to Guayaquil next Monday to prepare for the high altitude of Quito, where it will face off with Ecuador on March 28 in the 11th week of the South American 2002 World Cup qualifiers. The Brazilian Soccer Confederation announced that the players that were called up to the national team from Brazilian clubs will leave for Guayaquil on Sunday night with coach Emerson Leao. Players from foreign clubs will arrive in the Ecuadorian port city from Europe on Monday.

So what's wrong with the above headline? If it's indeed accurate, perhaps the Brazilian coach should be canned. He was taking his team to the port city of Guayaquil to practice for a high altitude match! Even if the Brazilian team practiced in Quito, because they only arrived a couple of days before the match, their bodies likely didn't have time to acclimate to Quito's altitude.

Although many cities and towns around the world are found at locations above 9,000 feet, Quito has the 2nd highest altitude of any large city in the world. Only LaPaz, the capital of Bolivia at 11,900 feet, is higher. Both cities have populations of approximately 800,000 people, and both are located in the Andes Mountains. At 9,400 feet, the atmospheric pressure is only about 70% of what it is at sea level, and the density is about 75% of the sea level value. Therefore, there's less oxygen to breathe.

If you live at high altitudes, you'll acquire a number of physiological characteristics that are beneficial to improving performance in endurance events. For instance, there will be an increase in red blood cell mass, meaning more blood cells to transport oxygen to the muscle cells. Also, you'll have an increase in the total blood volume, so that oxygen moves more efficiently through the blood stream. Ultimately, this helps the oxygen carrying capacity of the heart. Additionally, hematocrit, the ratio of blood cells to the total blood serum will increase - a greater percentage of the cells are carrying oxygen. Furthermore, there will be an increase in the capillaries, which means that there will be a greater number of pathways for blood and oxygen to reach the muscle cells. These factors, combined with other physiological benefits, can produce an increase in the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood by as much as 150%. Of course, this doesn't mean that by living at high altitudes your performance will be 150% better, but it's likely to be better than if you lived and trained at sea level.

However, your performance can be enhanced if you live at high altitudes and train at low altitudes. This is because at high altitudes the blood isn't fully saturated with oxygen. At sea level, an athlete's blood may be 97% saturated with oxygen, but at an altitude of 10,000 ft, his or her blood may only be 87% saturated. So, at 2 miles up, you're not able to train as hard as you can at sea level. The US Olympic cyclists stay at a high altitude training site in Colorado in preparing for the Olympics, but when cycling, they wear oxygen masks that simulate sea level conditions. The point is that studies have demonstrated that you can remain in an aerobic state longer and go faster with less lactic acid buildup if you live at a high altitude and train at sea level.

By the way, in other World Cup qualifying matches, after defeating Samoa 1-0, the island nation of Tonga was trounced by Australia, in Australia, two days ago. The 22-0 score is the record for the most lopsided defeat at the World Cup level. Perhaps if Tonga and Australia meet again, they'll play in Tonga. Tonga may want to consider using altitude as an equalizer. Their home field could be moved to a site below sea level, just offshore. That should minimize their opponents scoring.

For more about this http://www.altitudetraining.com/ 

12 April 2001