Morales joins Bolivian soccer team

[Judi Lynn]

Morales joins Bolivian soccer team

Thu Mar 27, 12:25 AM ET

LA PAZ, Bolivia - President Evo Morales, whose soccer skills helped launch his political career, has signed on with a minor league team in La Paz.

The 47-year-old Morales is listed as a reserve player for Litoral, an amateur second-division squad organized by the Bolivia's national police, Renato Arellano, president of the La Paz Soccer Association's technical committee, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Litoral could eventually rise to Bolivia's top professional league if it manages to win a long series of qualifying tournaments this year.

Morales' soccer skills helped him get into politics. As a young man, his play on a local coca-growers' team caught the eye of leaders in Bolivia's largest coca-growers' union, which named him its head of sports. He eventually became union president, launching his career.

Since his 2005 election as Bolivia's first indigenous president, he keeps in practice with regular public games with palace staffers and retired Bolivian stars.

Morales has been an outspoken opponent of a FIFA ban on international matches hosted at high altitudes. Last month, he hosted a charity match in the Bolivian capital — 11,800 feet above sea level — against an Argentine squad led by retired superstar Diego Maradona.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080327/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/bolivia_morales

[Peace Patriot]

1. Great pix! Thank you! I love hearing that he's playing with the police soccer team!

He used to get beaten up by the police--as a union leader. The times they are changin'!

And you gotta have respect for a president who plays soccer at 11,500 above sea level! Wow!

First I've heard of this issue of banning soccer matches at the higher elevations--obvious discrimination against the indigenous, who are accustomed to Andes altitudes. Some players are advantaged by heat, some by cold, some by smog, some by rain, some by dry desert climates, some by the home field--advantages that are supposed to even out over a season. I didn't know altitude was excluded. Thus, those who live on the lower plains would always be advantaged. Interesting. You learn something new every day.