New disciplinary trouble on Chile’s national soccer team threatens line-up for Friday.
Trouble is brewing on the Chilean national soccer team. Just days away from the next World Cup qualifying match on Friday, Chile’s coach Claudio Borghi confirmed on Wednesday the removal of five players from the roster citing disciplinary issues.
Photo by Comunicaciones ANFP.
The players were sanctioned for arriving 45 minutes past their 10 p.m. curfew. Borghi told a press conference that the players were “not in a suitable condition.”
Jorge Valdivia, Gonzalo Jara, Jean Beausejour, Arturo Vidal and Carlos Carmona will not play with the team against Uruguay on Friday nor against Paraguay next week. The sanctions were particularly tough for Valdivia and Vidal, who were scheduled as starters for the first match.
Disciplinary troubles are nothing new for the Chilean soccer team. The most recent incident occurred just before the Oct. 7 qualifying match against Argentina, when Chilean press accused Valdivia and Beausejour of being under the influence of alcohol during breakfast at a Cafe Tavelli restaurant in Santiago.
During a press conference Wednesday, Borghi referred to both the current incident and the previous allegations: “The Tavelli (incident) I couldn’t confirm. Yesterday (Tuesday) I confirmed it. This is the coach’s decision; it hasn’t come from above.”
“If you ask me whether they were drunk, I haven’t got a clue, but they were not in a reasonable state,” Borghi told the press. He also said how he found out: “The players arrived late, and by that time dinner was over. They went into their rooms. I never go into their rooms, but yesterday I did and what I saw made a very bad impression on me.”
The Chilean players were in such bad condition that when confronted “they couldn’t even defend themselves,” Borghi said.
On Thursday Valdivia, Beausejour, Carmona and Jara will give a press conference explaining their actions, Radio Cooperativa reported. Vidal has reportedly decided to return to his soccer club in Italy.
The positions left open by the five suspended players will be filled by Universidad de Chile’s José Rojas, Universidad Católica’s Milovan Mirosevic, Felipe Gutiérrez, Fernando Meneses and Francisco Silva.
Misconduct by Chilean football players has been a sensitive issue ever since the “El Puerto Ordazo” incident at the 2007 Copa América tournament in Venezuela. At that time, a scandal ensued after five Chilean players under the influence of alcohol damaged hotel rooms and sexually harassed two female hotel employees with offensive comments.
Of the players involved in 2007, the only remaining member of the current squad is Jorge Valdivia, who returned to the national team after being sanctioned with a 10-match ban.
By Juan Francisco Veloso Olguin (editor@santiagotimes.cl)
Copyright 2011 – The Santiago Times
About the writer
Juan Francisco Veloso Olguin
22-year-old Juan Francisco is originally from Santiago, moved to England back in 2002. He completed his higher education at the University of Hull in June 2011 with a BA in English Literature with Creative writing. When he saw that the Santiago Times were taking interns, he decided to apply.
Most Read News
- Where to get a good ‘Chela’ in Chile
- Blood, gore and earthquakes: ‘Aftershock’ by Chilean Nicolás López
- Legendary Chilean folk rockers perform 50th anniversary show
- Chilean union leader calls for national strike of copper workers
- Soccer roundup: Unión Española lead pack with only two games to go
- Controversy in Chile over plans to export melting glaciers to Qatar