For the last year, Brazilian club Flamengo have led an almost obsessive campaign for a ban on matches at high altitude. Following a match away to Bolivian side Real Potosi at 4,000 metres above sea level in the Libertadores Cup, club president Marcio Braga has gone on the warpath describing high altitude games as “inhumane” and comparing them to a form of doping for the home team.

Braga has taken his case to FIFA, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and even the United Nations human rights commission — all without success. Although FIFA has effectively banned World Cup qualifiers above 2,750 metres, the South American Football Confederation has refused to follow suit for the Libertadores.

So it was with great trepidation that Flamengo on Wednesday visited Cienciano at 3,300 metres in the Peruvian Andes, with the added worry that their campaign had understandably antagonised the locals. But their fears proved unfounded. Flamengo ran out comfortable 3-0 winners, even bettering their 2-1 win over the same opponents at the Maracana earlier in the group.

So what was the big fuss about? Recent results suggest that altitude does not really offer anything more than a small advantage to the home team, rather similar to playing on a bumpy pitch or in weather which the visitors are unused to. In the last World Cup qualifying competition, for example, Bolivia managed four wins, two draws and three defeats in La Paz.

It also begs the question: are Brazilian clubs and the media, which has helped stoke up public opinion, being hypocritical?

Writing on the BBC’s web site this week, correspondent Tim Vickery argues that they are. Vickery points out that, while Brazilian teams make a big song and dance about the players’ health being paramount, there is not a whisper from them when their own federation, in agreement with local television stations, schedules domestic games to be played in mid-afternoon in high summer.

When Brazil needed local backing for their 2014 World Cup bid, the Brazilian confederation kept quiet about the altitude issue. But when the South American federation last week asked FIFA to reconsider the 2,750 limit which had been reinstated, Brazil was the only country which refused to sign the declaration.

Until FIFA considers banning matches in other extreme conditions, it will be hard not to sympathise with the likes of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.

Brian Homewood, Rio de Janeiro

My colleague Zoran Milosavljevic was enthused about Wednesday’s batch of friendlies but not everyone was so impressed. Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger both pondered the death of the international friendly after the midweek ‘action’ and they were not alone.

Other than the dramatic 4-3 victory by the Dutch, who had been trailing 3-0 to Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria, Wednesday’s games were a poor advert for mid-season international football with many players coming back injured — much to the annoyance of their club managers.

Ferguson did not hold back when asked what he thought of the matches after Darren Fletcher returned injured from helping Scotland draw 1-1 with Croatia.

“It was a bad blow with Darren Fletcher, which to me just emphasises the futility of playing these friendly games. It’s crazy. We have lost him for six weeks now… It’s crazy and supporters will stop going to these kind of games anyway, paying all that money and travelling. I think every manager knows, deep down, that they are a waste of time.”

Wenger added this:

“I’m scared that in the modern game, there is no room any more for friendly internationals. Not because countries take our players, just because people will not be interested in that anymore. There is nothing at stake. People want to see competitive games. Maybe I’m completely wrong but is it in the long term organisable for people to travel and spend their money to watch this kind of game? I’m not sure.”

Aston Villa’s Martin O’Neill, Fulham boss Roy Hodgson and Steve Bruce of Wigan all complained as well, while Blackburn manager Mark Hughes will be the most fed up of all after seeing his South African midfielder Aaron Mokoena injure his Paraguayan club colleague Roque Sante Cruz in their international friendly.

So with all this unrest is it time FIFA acted and separated the international season from the domestic season and have all internationals played in a six week window in the summer?

PHOTO: David Beckham talks to German referee Florian Meyer during France’s win over England in Paris, March 26, 2008 REUTERS/Charles Platiau