Netherlands forward Dirk Kuyt, who scored in his team's 2-0 win over Denmark yesterday, stated that players are taking two or three times as long to recover from exerting themselves.

The Netherlands team are not the only ones complaining about the high altitude problems. Most countries, including the England squad, have held training camps in the mountains in preparation for the unique conditions they will face over the next few weeks.

England defender John Terry said that “your mouth is really dry and it's hard to breathe” in these conditions. The concentration of oxygen in the air decreases at higher altitudes. With low oxygen levels in the atmosphere, the breathing rate of the players has to increase to supply the same amount of oxygen to the body making them more tired and breathless.

Seven of the ten World Cup stadiums are at high altitude: Johannesburg Ellis Park, altitude 1753m; Johannesburg Soccer City Stadium, 1753m; Bloemfontein Vodacom Park, 1400m; Pretoria Loftus Versfeld Stadium, 1214m; Nelspruit Mbombela Stadium, 660m; Polokwane Peter Mokaba Stadium, 1310m; Rustenburg Royal Bafokeng Stadium, 1500m.

For the full story, please go to: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/world-cup-2010/news/2010/06/11/altitude-problems-could-ruin-england-s-hopes-of-world-cup-glory-claims-ex-manchester-utd-star-gary-bailey-86908-22325946/