The air up there

CAPE TOWN: The World Cup draw has handed varied fortunes to the top teams, not only in the strength of their opponents, but in how many games they have to play at energy sapping high altitude in South Africa.

Many of the 2010 World Cup venues are in thinner air, especially in the high veldt around Johannesburg and Pretoria, where coaches are concerned their teams will be at a disadvantage unless they are properly acclimatized in pre-tournament training.

From this standpoint, Argentina seem to have fared the worst of the top seeds, playing all three of their group stage games at high altitude in Johannesburg and Polokwane, in the north. In contrast, England, Germany and the Netherlands have two games each on the coast and only one at altitude in the group stage.