The elements at play against the Socceroos
I have just got back to my home in Rio from the southern city of Curitiba, where on 24 June (AEST) Australia will complete its group program (and - I hasten to add that this is a question rather than a declaration or even a prediction - complete the World Cup?) against reigning champion Spain.
By
Tim Vickery
1 Jun 2014 - 12:45 AM UPDATED 5 HOURS AGO
It was my first time in the city. I was there to give a lecture and spent less than 24 hours before returning to Rio. My lasting impression? Blimey, it'cold!
The event went very well but I can honestly say that my happiest moment in the city came when I was searching the hotel room and came across an extra blanket. Without it the night would have been long and bleak.
Australia's second game, against Netherlands, will also be in the south of the country, in Porto Alegre, where winter can bite hard.
But there will be nothing chilly about the conditions for the opening game - apart, of course, from the opposition. The Socceroos take on Chile in Cuiaba, where the temperature at game time could still be hovering around the mark of 30 degrees.
In some places the thermometer will be climbing still higher -“ especially because of the time of some of the kick offs.
FIFA makes the bulk of its money from the sale of World Cup TV rights- so for much of the tournament it needs three staggered game times per day, all of them accessible to the European audience.
With Brazil at this point of the year, four or five hours behind Western Europe, the only way to achieve this is to get going early.
The consequence is that, up to and including the quarter final stage, the first game of the day will start at 1pm local time - fine in the likes of Curitiba and Sao Paulo, and at this time of the year, not a problem in Sao Paulo or even in Rio.
However, in the North East, untouched by winter, this means exposing players to the ferocious afternoon sun. Big domestic games would never be played at this time of day - but one of the fears of Fenapaf, the local players union, is that a dangerous precedent might be set by the World Cup.
Under the auspices of Dr Turibio Leite, who has decades of experience in top class football, the union carried out a survey to measure the effects on the players of 1pm games in these conditions. The conclusion; in the case of some players, body temperature rises so much that, according to Dr Leite, there is a risk of coma or even death. Water breaks during the match help the problem without eliminating the risks.
Fenapaf has been trying to converse with FIFA on this issue for some time. It got nowhere, and so recently it took action in Brazil's labour justice system, on the grounds that the players are employees and should not be subjected to such risks.
The case is unlikely to make much progress. For one thing there is too much at stake. For another, it is unclear whether a Brazilian players union has any right to speak on behalf of athletes from other countries.
Yet the case does illustrate the demanding conditions in which thie 2014 World Cup will be played, and the importance of both luck and logistics in the outcome of the tournament.
There is the luck of the draw; Belgium, for example, has all three group matches in the same region, in temperate climes - the dream draw. Germany' games are close together, but in extreme temperatures. Some teams have three games in three different regions - like host nation Brazil.
This is fitting, because political considerations surrounding the host put an end to the common sense idea of splitting the country into zones, as was the case in World Cups past. It would have made perfect logistical sense - less travelling for almost everyone. But it made no political sense.
As the cost of the tournament kept rising, the idea of one region having a monopoly on Brazil's group matches became unthinkable. The host would have to move about; from Sao Paulo in the South-East, to Fortaleza in the North East, to Brasilia in the centre.
This exposes the players to huge temperature differences, especially as Brazil is training in the hills outside Rio, where in the last few days the thermometer has been hitting as little as eight degrees. Fortaleza on the afternoon of 17 June (18 June AEST) could be close to 40.
Clearly, dealing with such extremes leaves the players open to the possibility of the common cold, and so on. Brazil's doctors were talking about this in the week, about the plans they have drawn up for dealing with this situation, administering vitamins and so on.
One hopes that Australia is taking similar precautions. The Group B task of the Socceroos is hard enough, without falling ill as a consequence of the thermic shock between Cuiaba and Curitiba.
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/blog/2014/06/01/elements-play-against-socceroos