Bolivia, altitude and 1,840 steps up from La Paz to their new home 4,150 m above sea level

The numbers and words painted on the artificial turf next to the pitch at the Estadio Municipal de El Alto in Bolivia's highest and fastest-growing city are a source of pride for locals. They also serve as a warning to opponents.

“4150 MTS OLD. SE JUEGA DONDE SE VIVE.”

“We play where we live,” is the slogan next to the four figures, which illustrate what an extraordinary location a football stadium is. The Bolivian national team's new home in El Alto is 4,150 meters above sea level and is a real challenge when it comes to playing at altitude.

Venezuela became the first international team to visit the stadium in September as part of a World Cup qualifier, and it says everything about the difficulties that awaited their players that they spent the days before the game doing breathing exercises and getting ready to get used to the low air pressure by using hyperbaric chambers.

Venezuela lost 0-4.

Bolivia will next face Colombia – a team that has lost just once since February 2022 (the 2024 Copa America final against Argentina) – on Thursday October 10th in El Alto.

The fact that Bolivia is a difficult place to play football is of course nothing new. In his book “¡Golazo!: A History of Latin American Football,” Andreas Campomar writes about how “Bolivian football has for years created a fortress out of the thin air of the Andes,” making the country a formidable opponent on home soil contributed some notable results, most notably a 6-1 win over Argentina in 2009.

Diego Maradona, Argentina's coach, was dejected. “Every goal was like a stab in my heart,” he said.

As for his players' lungs, Maradona refused to use La Paz's high altitude – 3,660m – as an excuse, which was probably wise considering he had played in the same stadium a year earlier, aged 47 had played to show his support for Bolivia after FIFA introduced a ban on international matches above 2,750 m above sea level in 2007.

FIFA's argument at the time was that high altitudes posed a potential health risk to players and distorted fair competition – which Bolivia strenuously denied. Evo Morales, the Bolivian president at the time, railed against what he called “football apartheid.”

The ban was soon lifted and La Paz was eventually able to host international games again, although complaints from some countries – particularly Brazil – never really went away.

After a goalless draw at Estadio Hernando Siles in La Paz in 2017, Brazilian star Neymar posted a picture on Instagram that went viral. “It's inhumane to play in these conditions. Pitch, height, ball…everything is bad,” he wrote. The attached photo showed Neymar and his Brazil teammates wearing oxygen masks on a sofa and armchairs, in full gear, at the end of the game. It was a bizarre scene.

Now, seven years later, Bolivia has gone one step further and decided to play games in El Alto; In fact, it's about 1,840 steps further if we count in feet. El Alto is 1,800 feet higher than La Paz – a city where tourists often need days and sometimes even weeks to adjust to the thinner air, which forces their lungs to work harder to supply oxygen to the bloodstream .

It makes you wonder how the opposing players will deal with playing 90 minutes in El Alto – and to what extent Bolivia will benefit from what the association has described as a test.

“Football consists of details. “It doesn't mean we're going to win with this (change of stadium),” Bolivia coach Oscar Villegas told the Associated Press before the game against Venezuela. “We try to pay attention to details that allow us to be more effective.

Oscar Villegas' Bolivian side have three points from six World Cup qualifiers (Aizar Raldes/AFP via Getty Images)

“In El Alto we will try to be as intense as possible and let them know that they are on a new pitch where we were unbeatable (a reference to Bolivian club teams that play in international competitions like the one at the stadium ). Copa Libertadores and Sudamericana).

“The psychological and emotional aspect also plays a role. It’s something that will help us a lot.”

Mindful of the fact that the national team was in turmoil before Venezuela's win – it had lost five of its six World Cup qualifiers, finishing second from second to last in the group, and had also suffered three straight defeats at the Copa America in June – It It's hard not to be cynical when it comes to the rationale behind the Bolivian Football Federation's decision to play games in El Alto, where stadium capacity is significantly lower than in La Paz. In short, it smacks of desperation.

An alternative view would be that Bolivia is simply making the most of its natural habitat and that this is no different than a nation that normally plays in extreme heat or sub-zero temperatures.

“I don't think it's important for Bolivia to win – I see it differently,” said Marco Etcheverry, considered one of Bolivia's greatest footballers The athlete before Venezuela's victory.

“Bolivia is going through a difficult time as far as players and directors are concerned – they have many, many problems now. The organization that defends the players – the union – is not in dialogue with the directors. It's very bad.

“They appointed a coach who is a great friend of mine and for whom I have a special affection to stand up to the people so that they don't get too angry because they wanted a Bolivian coach. I think they did it more (moving games to El Alto) to appease the fans. I think they believe they will win in El Alto – hopefully they do. But I don’t think it will be a big advantage for Bolivia.”

How much playing at high altitude has helped Bolivia over the years has long been debated. Some in Bolivia believe that all the talk about altitude gave the team a psychological advantage over opponents more than anything else, and that the possible physical effects, which can include nausea, headaches, fatigue and vomiting, are often overstated.

What we can say for sure is that Bolivia were a completely different team on home soil. Thirteen of their 15 points in 2022 World Cup qualifying were collected in Bolivia, up from 14 in the previous season, which also included another win against Argentina (2-0).

In fact, the difference that playing at home makes for Bolivia is probably best illustrated by their away form. Their impressive 2-1 away win against Chile in September was only their second competitive win away from the country in the last 28 years.

For all teams traveling to Bolivia, adaptation is key to success. Mario Kempes, World Cup winner with Argentina, tells a story about how in 1973, with the games only 14 days apart, national coach Omar Sivori decided to select two completely different teams for the home and away game against Bolivia to allow a group of players to compete to get used to the high altitude. Kempes was part of the so-called ghost team that won 1-0 in Bolivia.

“It's very difficult to play at high altitude, you can feel it. But it is doable,” said Kempes The New York Times in 2009. “We were there 15 days before to prepare. It was the right way. You need additional time. But today time is very short.

“Yes, some countries have the height on their side, but if you don’t have the players it’s really not an advantage.”

This is consistent with Etcheverry's views. “I think the altitude myth used to be a cause for fear, but now with technology you can do studies on everything from what to eat to combat altitude to when to drink water must, and in what quality.” of the food required, the rest and specific training. Now the teams go there (to Bolivia) and have fewer problems than before because the managers are prepared.”

That's not to say playing at high altitude doesn't have physical effects. “Recovery is slower,” explains Etcheverry. “It doesn’t stop you from running: you do everything the same. The only problem is that recovery doesn't happen as quickly if you put in the effort. If there is a movement where you put in a lot of effort, you run 30 meters and hit a cross – that is possible. But running back and breathing is the difficult part. This will cost you.”

Then the unusual behavior of the ball must be taken into account. In 1996, when Daniel Passarella was coaching Argentina, they lost an away game against Ecuador in Quito, a city more than 2,800 meters above sea level, prompting the coach to make a remark that has never been forgotten. “En la altura la pelota no dobla,” Passarella said afterwards.

So was Passarella right? Is it true that the ball doesn't bend at height or at least behaves differently?

Etcheverry smiles. “The speed, the time, the space the ball travels is different, that’s true,” he says.

“It’s going faster,” Etcheverry adds, waving his hand at the sudden change in trajectory. “It's like the ball, let's say, travels in a straight line and doesn't have that downward curve at the end when it falls. It falls (immediately), which is complicated for goalkeepers.”

Claudio Taffarel, the former Brazilian goalkeeper, could barely corral Etcheverry's shot from a tight angle that flew between his legs and over the line in 1993 as Bolivia famously defeated the team that would go on to win the World Cup 2-0. Defeat brought the cup 12 months later.

Bolivia qualified for the 1994 World Cup finals in the United States, but they have failed to return to that stage since. Their attempt to make things right continues tonight in the unlikely surroundings of El Alto.

(Top photo: Aizar Raldes/AFP via Getty Images)