Soccer-River take to pressure chamber to prepare for Bolivia trip
BUENOS AIRES, Feb 17 (Reuters) - River Plate players spent time in a hyperbaric pressure chamber on Monday to help prepare them for the thin oxygen at high altitude in Bolivia where they open their Libertadores Cup campaign later this week. The Argentine twice champions face San Jose in the Andean mining town of Oruro 3,300 metres above sea level in Group Six of South America's elite club competition on Thursday. Andean conditions have notoriously been a big handicap for teams visiting from the low eastern flank of the continent with Diego Maradona's Argentina famously losing a World Cup qualifier to Bolivia 6-1 in La Paz in 2009. Coach Marcelo Gallardo, who travels to Bolivia with his squad on Tuesday, has decided to rest Colombia striker Teofilo Gutierrez and three other first team players for River's league match at home to Quilmes next weekend. River began the league season with a 4-1 victory at promoted Sarmiento in Junin on Sunday. (Reporting by Rex Gowar, editing by Nick Mulvenney)
