BY ADAM SERRANO
Mexico's chances of repeating as Gold Cup champions just got a lot slimmer.
Starting goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and four teammates were removed from the Mexican national team on Thursday afternoon after positive drug tests for the substance "Clenbuterol", a banned stimulant that can be used to ease the symptoms of chronic breathing disorders.
The following players Francisco Javier Rodriguez, Antonio "Sinha" Naelson, Christian Bermudez, Edgar Duenas, and Ochoa face a suspension of up to a year depending on whether or not the positive drug tests were not accidential.
In a press conference held on Thursday, the Mexican Football Federation speculated that the players consumed chicken that was tainted with the drug and will request that the team be allowed to field replacement players for the rest of the Gold Cup. The removals come just one day after defender Ricardo Osorio also left the team due to an injury.
The removals have major ramifications for El Tri, which loses its starting goalkeeper as well as several key players at the start of the Gold Cup. It should be noted that none of the players have been formally suspended from the Gold Cup, just removed from the Mexican team as a precaution, which means there is still the possibility the players could return if a logical and legal explanation for the initial failed tests is found.
What do you think this does to the chances of "El Tri" repeating as Gold Cup Champions? Think that we'll see something other than a U.S. vs. Mexico Final on June 25th?
Share your thoughts below.
An obvious question that not many people seem to be asking.
why would a goal keeper need a drug like this?
I am a HUGE USNT fan living in Mexico and I can definitely attest to the f—– up pork raising practices down here… this drug keeps the pork lean and there is pork in A LOT of food and cooking oils….
I am being told the Clerbuterol was covertly administered by our very own Seal Team Six in an operation name “Loco Pollo” in an attempt to remove “the Mexican team winning the gold cup” memo circulating Washington. Just saying!
I wish there was a site geared towards an intellectual man’s view of the beautiful game, a site free of trollish, immature and name-calling comments.
http://www.runofplay.com
Ochoa, while he may be a standup guy and a nice person, is probably the most overrated Mexican player ever. So many Mexicans I know think he’s better than Tim Howard and Brad Friedel.
How would a drug that increases cardiovascular performance help a keeper? Seriously, looking at what this drug is supposed to do, why would *any* keeper take it? It makes no sense.
ha ha ha.. maybe he will headbutt Bob Bradley and we can get a real coach
Oh Americans don’t cheat? You’ve done it in every single sport and specially in Olympic Sports.
I didin’t see any Mexican’s diving in their two Gold Cup matches unlike Depsey vs Canada.
And even without the “dopies” they won cinco a cero AGAIN!
That was not my defense as it wasn’t their point.
Mexico cheats. They dive, embellish, and do whatever they have to do to win. This is not surprising to me at all. These are professional athletes. They have the best trainers in the world, and they should know what they are ingesting, whether it be sketchy chicken (unlikely) or injections. The Mexicans believe it was worth the risk; and even if they got caught, a year ban before the WC qualifying cycle is no big deal for them.
Did you not read that very long, intelligent, well-balanced exchange above that covered very plausible reasons as to how these players might have tested false positives?
Yea, thought so.
Well, it wasn’t clear, and I’m not even certain how sarcasm applies to your other comment.
Admit it, you want to like the theory….
There´s no excuse for this, they are professional athletes and they should know better, if you live or eat in Mexico and you are familiar with the veterinary practices in Mexico, then take the appropriate precautions and avoid getting suspended, this is not entiely the players fault, but life is like that.
Go USA.
So the ability to suspend reason and thoughtful judgment in favor of an irrational burning hatred is something you’re bragging about?
Whether or not this is “just a game”, such toxic modes of thinking are why we still have internecine wars and ethnic cleansing in the world today.
LMAO
He’s not going to PSG
EAT ORGANIC/GRASS FED/FREE RANGE MEAT!!!!
For those of you who do not know, clenbuterol is used by several body builders to enhance the metabolism in order to cut up before a show. it supposedly increases you body temperature as well. Ive known runners who use it because it enhances their cardiovascular endurance…sooooooooo…yeah tainted meat….i buy the stuff to add to cutting cycles as well and get the stuff dirt cheapo in MEXICO>>hey its legal. its for my asthma lol
Mexicans by nature are very sharing people.
you’re too intelligent to be on this site. I wish there was a site geared towards an intellectual man’s view of the beautiful game, a site free of trollish, immature and name-calling comments. (mex. team are druggies)
Oh, it’s extremely embarrassing for the Mexican GOVERNMENT– your meat is so screwed up, you can’t even keep your athletes from showing positive on drug tests? Really?
I just don’t think it’s actual cheating.
Thanks Rob. You are correct. The fact that anyone may think that is serious only goes to show my point.
The teats that Contador failed were not consistent with how Clerbuterol is used as a PED.In addition WADA has been enforcing a “no tolerance” rule for this class of drugs in all all sports federations. What this means is that any “trace amounts” of certain classes of drugs, no matter how small, should and will be construed as a positive. While this may catch sophisticated cheats, it also scoops up those who may be innocent. Clerbuterol is used in the meat industry in many countries and eating meat treated with that drug does and can be detected in testing.
Case in point: In the 1984, the Olympic Gold medal winner in cycling, Alexi Grewal was found positive for opiates. His defense? He ate a bagel topped with poppy seeds prior to his event. This was seemed to be preposterous, but a year earlier, the UCI sent out a missive that warned that positives could appear because of consumption of poppy seeds. Poppy seeds are a relative to opium poppies and have a very similar chemical signature. As the UCI had ample evidence that this was false positive, no punitive action was taken. Since then, tests have become more precise and can tell the difference between the different opiate signatures, But it is still a tradition to not have poppy seed “anything” at the USOC Colorado Springs OTC cafeteria.
In the Floyd Landis case, he was found to have used steroids. His defense was that his body produced the ratio of epistesterone to testosterone naturally. However the steroids found in his system were artificial and had unknown markers, like EPO and CERA do now, and he was found guilty throughout all the appeals level.
In the Mexican players defense. It has long been known to the USOC and many international federations that meat found in certain third world countries and some European countries are tainted with Clerbuterol and players and athletes have been warned repeatedly. But its use is so systemic that many more athletes will be found positive before this is cleaned up.The meat that Contador claimed he consumed was brought from Spain and consumed in France. The cooks and chefs for many TdF teams routinely bring their own foodstuffs with them. In this case, Contador had a favorite cut of beef the chefs routinely cooked for him. This is normal. What was not was the Clebuterol tainted meat.
As to all the tainted meat claims, they may be true, but this is embarrassing: http://tinyurl.com/3e24lyh two months ago, the government and sport ministry vehemently denied a bute contamination problem…
Breaking Mal
Google famous vegetarian vegan athletes
Eat Organic chicken next time …
It’s a SONG you idiots. Damn. People that write on Ives obviously never been in the US Supporters Section.
“Same ol’ (insert team)…ALWAYS CHEATING!”
Osorio left for an unrelated matter, at least that was the official reason.
Sorry if it wasn’t clear, but I was being sarcastic. I didn’t really want to hear more about it.
All the Mexican players that tested positive that is…
Well, not all restaurants/caterers/food service providers get all of their meat from the same farms so it just depends on where the meat came from. And since all the Mexican players probably ate meat from the same farm, there is “plausible deniability” here.
Well, if Ochoa is as good of a guy as everyone says, then I hope he didn’t dope. But, even if he did there are worse things he could have done.
I’d rather beat a diminished side and gain the experience of playing in the Confed Cup in Brazil then say we lost to Mexico’s full squad and miss out on it.
Well played sir. What makes it funny is the likelihood that a couple will try as soon as the team is knocked out.
But you don’t realize that the Federation is known for protecting their cyclists. The ICU will most likely challenge the Spanish ruling.
Spain and Mexico are NOT 3rd world countries. Spain is a developed country, and Mexico is a developing country. 3rd world countries are considered undeveloped countries.
As for your explanation of Contador’s positive, that’s the positive spin. The more cynical one is that Contador used bute, but that he did a blood transfusion, where the bute deteriorated over time, so that by the time he reinfused the blood, it was just trace levels. If you ask the Spanish authorities, the use of bute to promote meat growth has no longer been used for years, in the EU.
I agree that it will most likely be resolved in a favorable way, because the federations are the ones that administer punishment, and like in Spain where the federation protects their athletes, I have a feeling that the Mexican federation will do the same.
As for tainted chicken, this is the first time I’ve heard of bute in chicken. In the past, it’s always been beef. Why would a farmer bute a chicken?
Believe it was sarcasm…. I laughed at least
Or the abuse is systemic, and the doc administering the bute made a mistake. The cases in Spain are borderline systemic, given the numbers of athletes involved (over 200 in Operation Puerto). Interestingly, the focus has been on the cyclists and track athletes, when supposedly 3/4 of the blood bags found in the Operation Puerto drug bust were from non-cyclists. Everyone assumes they were footballers from Madrid and Barca, but they are being protected. That’s why Operation Puerto was squashed. The only convictions have been by foreign cycling authorities.
Like Jozy? Too soon?
#sarcasm
don’t be naive! That’s what the FEMEXFUT sys. Both Carmona and Galindo, but especially Carmona have gone to court to dispute the charges. What Carmona has said is that what really happened, if he ever told, would make him fear for his safety.
Some say he screwed around with some of his teammates women!
Specifically Rafa Marquez!
What’s weird is the connection any of this has to do with the doping scandal?
Some of my thoughts on this. I’m awaiting to pass my own judgment on this. But there’s things that make me pause on both sides. If its from “tainted meat”, wouldn’t a lot more players be testing positive for this in Mexico right now? Plus, the fact that it was 5 guys from the same squad, it can point towards combined cheating. But it can point towards eating meat from the same place or from the same source as well. Also, the bigger names on this squad all have potential moves abroad, which would call in question the wisdom of doping (not that it is ever wise), but at the same time, maybe knowing that having a good Gold Cup would ensure that it would seal a potential move.
I can easily formulate arguments that this is from “bad meat” and they are innocent, or that the “tainted meat” excuse are covering more dubious claimed. Either way, whatever type of testing the FMF has to do to ensure that this does come from bad meat I’m sure they are doing.
Also, as a complete aside – how much “tainted meat” do you have to eat to test positive?
How about not being able to go to Italy 90 and the one form that confederation cup a couple of years ago
bet the over in tonight’s game then.
Transvestites ring a bell?
Right, except that Contador was in France when he at his “tainted meat”. Or he was in Spain two months earlier, storing blood to re-use it doing the tour… Clen is a banned substance because it promotes weight loss, a nice advantage for a climber like Alberto. The Spanish overturned this ruling because they don’t want Alberto to lose the Yellow Jersey…
For the last time Talavera is SHITE!
You mean Corona is passing thru a better moment than Ochoa.
This is not only a test of your skills, it has as much to do with your international experience in which case Corona can’t scrape the gum of the boots of Ochoa!