Why preparation isn’t everything at a World Cup | Jonathan Wilson

T he heat and the altitude worried everybody. The 1970 World Cup in Mexico would not be a normal one. So the Bulgarian authorities sent their squad south of Sofia to get used to playing several thousand feet above sea level. Which seemed a great idea until somebody noticed that the temperature in the Pirin Mountains was not in the mid-20s celsius as it is in Mexico but somewhere near freezing. How then could they replicate the effect of playing in intense heat? By restricting water intake so that the players got used to performing while dehydrated. The plan was not a great success. Bulgaria lost their first two World Cup games in 1970 and had already been eliminated by the time they drew with Morocco. It’s safe to assume that preparations for this World Cup will be rather more sophisticated than they were 56 years ago. Most countries back then seemed to take the view that training at altitude was the logical way to prepare for games in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara. Israel went to Ethiopia and Colorado. Uruguay played in Quito and Bogotá. Mexico themselves held a five-month training camp that featured 13 friendly internationals in four months before a pair of games against the Scottish side Dundee United. England, the world champions, were paranoid about what they’d find in Mexico. Their team doctor, Neil Phillips, took a course on heat, altitude and tropical diseases, and recommended the players take salt tablets. …