WTF?

Talk about muddying the waters. Sepp Blatter now says that FIFA will allow matches to be played at altitudes above no more than 3,000 meters (9,840 ft.). This amends the previous limit of 2,500 meters (8,200 ft.), which was implemented just one month ago. The big cheese had this to say:

This turned out to be a huge political discussion on a subject that was solely aimed at protecting players' health. We do not want to keep people from playing football at altitude ... (but) we do not want casualties on the field.

The new ruling would allow Colombia to play in Bogota and Ecuador to play in Quito. But for Bolivia and Peru, there's nothing left but to continue citing CONMEBOL's own medical panel who insist that playing at altitude causes "no major problems" provided there has been a period of acclimatisation.

Let's see if Peru ignores the ruling by playing their World Cup qualifiers in Cuzco, a mountain town situated 3,400 meters (11,155 ft.) above sea level. Now that would be pretty cool.

FIFA eases altitude restriction [Denver Post]

-ac