No high kicks for international futbol

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Angry, indignant words are once again being hurled between Latin America and parts of the developed Western world. Is it about Hugo Chavez, ethanol prices, narco-trafficking?

Naw, it’s about FIFA, the uber-powerful European-based governing body of world soccer, which recently issued an edict prohibiting international soccer matches from being played at an altitude of more than 2,500 meters. (That’s 8,202 feet for the metrically challenged.)

FIFA said that its ruling was designed to protect players from lower-lying countries who may get easily winded or suffer other physical afflictions while trying to chase down soccer balls at heights better suited to condors than humans.

But FIFA’s decision has infuriated politicians and fútbol coaches across Latin America, particularly those in countries with stadiums nestled in the Andes mountains and other lofty perches.

The coach of the Mexican national team verbally attacked FIFA president Joseph Blatter. Bolivia’s president Evo Morales has sent a letter to FIFA, asking the federation to reconsider its “unjust and discriminatory” policy, and he is soliciting support from neighboring Argentina and Uruguay.

Of course, soccer-related culture clash is nothing new. La Plaza is old enough (barely) to remember European sports writers fretting about the effect that high altitudes and warm temperatures would haveon the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. That tournament is now widely regarded as the sport’s best ever.

Posted by Reed Johnson in Mexico City