How hard is it to play in La Paz, Bolivia? I present my analysis.

"Playing at altitude is inhuman," said Daniel Passarella in 1997.

La Paz, is a city that since December 7, 2014 was classified as one of the new seven wonders of the world.

There is the Hernando Siles Stadium, a multipurpose infrastructure that is also the largest capacity in the country, with a capacity of 41 143 seated spectators.

The stadium is located at an altitude of 3,601 meters above sea level, making it one of the highest professional stadiums in the world, this has been a trauma for an infinity of selections that have trodden Bolivian soil.

Many national teams and clubs have said that playing at the height of La Paz is something that should be considered by FIFA, but so far have not had a positive response to their requests.

Two events have been fundamental to raise the objections of some South American federations to play in high altitude cities:

In 1977, Bolivia eliminated the Uruguayan team, which could not attend the World Cup in Argentina in 1978 (a particularly important event due to the geographical and cultural proximity between Uruguayans and Argentines).
Then, Bolivia won the celeste in La Paz (1-0) and tied in Montevideo (2-2).
In 1993 Bolivia took the Uruguayans out of the World Cup for the second time, depriving them of being in the United States 1994.

In La Paz, eliminatory for the 1994 USA World Cup, Bolivia took advantage of the height and defeated the powerful and then three-time world champion Brazil, which had references such as Cláudio Taffarel, Mauro Silva, Mazinho, Branco, Raí, Cafu, Romario, Bebeto, Dunga, Ronaldo and Leonardo 2-0, this being the first time Brazil lost in a tie.

The summary of that game here:

"Here the ball doubles later, and falls very suddenly," said former Argentina national team coach Alejandro Sabella.

Maradona suffered his first defeat as coach of the Albiceleste in La Paz, where he was humiliated by Bolivia (6-1) in a historic match for the Bolivians and a date where Pelusa's pupils were overwhelmed in all aspects.

In tune, Lio Messi, after the 1-6 said:

"It's impossible to play on the pitch, we made a pique and it was very difficult for us to recover, it was impossible".

On the other hand, the Argentine defender Javier Zanetti, who was playing regularly in Milan, Italy, at just 120 meters above sea level, said:

"Some of us suffered terrible headaches, although we did not want to use this as an excuse"

Summary of Bolivia 6 - Argentina 1:

Néstor Lentini, former medical director of CENARD and specialist in height sports, explained for Deportes.terra.com.ar:

"The precautions of the case should be taken, it takes a week of adaptation for each thousand meters of ascent or, otherwise, go, play and turn around so that the effects appear only at the end of the game."

In reference to the "sports behaviors", Lentini expressed that:

"Many say that there the ball is lighter but it is not like that, it weighs the same as anywhere except that having less resistance from the wind, it takes much more speed than normal, to which we must add the loss of direction that the player wants to give him. "

Álex Escobar, former player of América de Cali and of the Colombia National Team, reviewed in an interview for www.soho.com.co his experience when he was in La Paz:

"I was so ill that today, almost 30 years later, I get dizzy just remembering myself: I felt pressure in my temples, it was difficult for me to breathe, the world was spinning"

"To play in La Paz you have to have a plus: you have to make an extra mental effort, put more heart, more eggs, I, who saw her there, I know better than anyone," said the former player.

In February of this year, the doctor of the Argentine team of River Plate recommended to his players to consume a cocktail of sildenafil, aspirin and caffeine to alleviate the lack of oxygen that there is in Oruro, a Bolivian city to about 3,700 meters of height where River He faced San Jose during the Copa Libertadores.

But even with the push of viagra River could beat San Jose de Oruro in his stadium (lost 2-0).

The Bolivians argue that they themselves have to compete at very different heights each week within their national championship (while La Paz is more than 3,600 meters away, other territories such as Santa Cruz are about 400 meters away).

"It affects us much more to go down to sea level than to raise them to the height", argues Guillermo Aponte, doctor of Bolivar Club, of Bolivia.

The Oxford University mathematician Patrick McSharry, in findings published in the British Medical Journal, calculated that as the altitude increases the local teams score more goals and award less and for each additional 1,000 meters the goal difference increases by approximately half a goal , review www.semana.com.

McSharry analyzed 1,460 international matches played in South America by 10 teams between the years of 1900 and 2004.

On the other hand, the Peruvian height researcher Gustavo Gonzáles calculated that the visiting teams lost or tied in 15 matches played on the same day that the teams arrived in La Paz or in the Bolivian city of Oruro between 1950 and 1993.

On several occasions, FIFA raised a veto to match and then back down.

The last attempt was in the mid-2000s, when Evo Morales - President of Bolivia - led an international campaign against the veto.