Borghi kicks out Chile quintet for being drunk
Reuters - Wednesday 09 November 2011, 17:10
Chile kicked five players out of
their 2014 World Cup qualifying squad after they returned late
and drunk from an evening off, coach Claudio Borghi said on
Wednesday.
The players had been given time off from midday to 10pm
on Tuesday, after morning training, Borghi said.
"Five players arrived 45 minutes late and not in a state
adequate to a professional player. So I took the decision to
withdraw them [from the squad]," the Argentine coach told a news
conference.
He named the five as midfielders Arturo Vidal of Juventus,
Jorge Valdivia of Palmeiras and Carlos Carmona of Atalanta,
Birmingham City winger Jean Beausejour and West Bromwich Albion
defender Gonzalo Jara who is on loan at Brighton & Hove Albion.
"These are the players who did not comply, not with a
written agreement but a verbal agreement," the Argentine coach
added.
Defender Jara had already been ruled out of the matches due
to a knee injury.
Local media had broken the news in the morning with some
speculating that Borghi, who then called the news conference,
might announce his resignation.
Borghi's squad are preparing for South American ties against
Uruguay on Friday and Paraguay next Tuesday.
Chile, who lost their opening qualifier 4-1 to Argentina in
Buenos Aires last month before bouncing back to beat Peru 4-2 at
home, travel to Montevideo on Thursday to face South American
champions Uruguay. They host Paraguay in Santiago.
All five players played in both October ties.
As replacements, Borghi called up Chile-based players:
Universidad Catolica midfielders Felipe Gutierrez, Francisco
Silva, Fernando Meneses and Milovan Mirosevic and defender Jose
Rojas of Universidad de Chile.