England are set for the worst experience of their lives

Let’s be honest, there are three things in life that England – traditionally – are undeniably better at than USA: Football, cricket and queuing. Yet the possibility exists that Steven Gerrard and Co. might just struggle to put their American counterparts away when the World Cup kicks off this weekend. If that is the case, England flanker Joe Worsley provides a very good insight in the Daily Mail into the major reason why Fabio Capello’s men might flatter to deceive. He calls on an old experience when he played for the British Lions in a 37-25 victory over a Highveld XV in Rustenburg...

When we played at altitude in Rustenburg last summer, it was my first game in a Lions shirt — and one of the worst experiences of my life.

After about 20 minutes my lungs were just shot to bits and my legs were heavy. It affected everyone to slightly different degrees, but to a man the players said it was one of the worst experiences they had ever had on a pitch.

Analysis after that game showed that the mistakes we made were worse and players were less explosive. Skill levels dropped and all of it happened as a consequence of people being fatigued.

The ball can also fly further and faster in the thin air at altitude, but how noticeable that will be in football I’m not sure. Maybe goalkeepers will struggle more with well-hit shots. It is a lack of oxygen in your system which has numerous consequences. Your lungs are working overtime to get more oxygen in and there is a lactate build-up in your legs because you can’t get as much fuel to them, so you feel sluggish.

Mentally you are affected as well — you slow down because of a lack of oxygen reaching the brain. We are talking tiny margins, but when it comes to elite sport it makes a difference.