THE HEAT IS ON FOR WEBB

42-year-old Howard Webb, the ex-policeman and referee from Rotherham, gasps for air as the heat in a tiny room at Sheffield Hallam University's Faculty of Health and Well being rises and the humidity spirals. He is 6,000 miles from Brazil but Webb is preparing for the World Cup, as he runs mile after mile on the treadmill. "It is tough, very tough," he says. "The heat and humidity are going to be the biggest challenges in Brazil." Webb flies to Brazil in three days as England's sole refereeing representative. 

World Cup final referee in 2010, he has been preparing for the conditions in Brazil for the past two weeks. The chamber he is running in has been set to 40C with 80% humidity, as Webb begins the first of 20 sprints, each 150m in distance. "I want to be as prepared as I can," he says. "Coming to the chamber here gives me that chance. If it gives me a small advantage, so I can perform to my potential there, then why not do it?" To do the World Cup final twice would be most unusual!

In Manaus, where England will play their first group game against Italy, humidity can reach 90% and temperatures can peak at around 33C. Webb burns around 2,200 calories during a Premier League match. In Brazil, that figure will jump to more than 3,000. The scientists at Sheffield Hallam believe Webb will sweat around 10 pints of fluid during every World Cup match he takes charge of and lose an incredible 1kg for every hour he spends on the field.

"Getting into the right place to make the right decision is key," he says. "It is so important to be physically and mentally fit enough to make a clear call even though you are having to work hard in difficult conditions." Recently, as he stepped out into the mid-afternoon heat of Fortaleza to referee the Confederations Cup match between Brazil and Mexico, he was surprised by the intensity of the heat. "It was really quite oppressive," he recalls. "The games I did in Fortaleza were challenging, but they gave me a feeling for what it is going to be like”.

Howard Webb refereed the final between Netherlands v Spain in South Africa. He goes to Brazil knowing that, however good his performance is, he is unlikely to take charge of the World Cup final. Spain won the last World Cup, beating Netherlands 1-0 in the final. One of the big talking points was Webb's decision not to send off Holland's Nigel de Jong for a chest-high kick on Spain's Xabi Alonso. "Very rarely will I look back at a game and think everything was perfect. Looking back at the game, there were one or two things that weren't right".

Webb could be in line to referee the opening match of the 2014 tournament, between Brazil and Croatia in Sao Paulo, on 12 June, but the Englishman will not discover which match he will officiate first until he arrives in Rio at the weekend. "We only get given one game at a time," he says. "You need to deliver that and then that might open the door to a second game and beyond. Any World Cup is special, but for it to be in Brazil, a football-loving country, is really special."