Argentina blamed accused of doping Brazil at the 1990 World Cup
http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3339624
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SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - The Brazilian Soccer Confederation said it will ask FIFA to investigate the possibility that it's players were drugged by their Argentine rivals during a game at the 1990 World Cup following a magazine interview in which Carlos Bilardo appeared to suggest the incident may have occurred.
The story was widely publicized in Brazilian media after Bilardo, the coach of Argentina in 1990, was asked by a reporter from Argentine magazine Veintitres if his team offered Brazilian players bottles of water laced with tranquilizers during their second-round match.
Bilardo said he wasn't aware of the doping, but then added: "I'm not saying it didn't happen. I don't know, I don't know."
The interview made headlines all over Brazilian newspapers, causing an outburst of complaints against the Argentine rivals.
Argentina won the match 1-0 and went on to the final, where it lost to Germany in the tournament played in Italy.
On Thursday, Bilardo tried to downplay the interpretation of his comments, telling the Argentine daily Clarin his remarks were taken out of context.
"What a scandal, and it's all based on something I never said," he said. "I never put anything in anybody's water bottle."
Still, the Brazilian confederation said it will prepare a dossier to ask FIFA to "thoroughly investigate" the allegations, a spokesman said Thursday.
"We expect a harsh punishment by FIFA if someone is found guilty," Marco Antonio Teixeira, the confederation's secretary-general, told o Estado de S. Paulo newspaper.
Sebastiao Lazaroni, then the Brazilian coach, also called for punishment: "It's a shame, FIFA needs to set an example with this case," he told a local radio station.
Defender Branco, now a coordinator of Brazil's younger squads, at the time complained about feeling dizzy after drinking water offered by the Argentines.
"I talked about the possibility at the time, but nobody gave much attention," he told the Lance sports daily. "I could've been caught on a doping test and my career would've been jeopardized."
Clarin, the Argentine daily, said in a small story Thursday that the Brazilians inaccurately cited Bilardo's quote. It took to a creative headline on the magazine article: "I (almost) confess that I have used trickery."
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It was already known that Bilardo threw sand at opponents' eyes, and used players' personal problems to distract them. New however is that he has also drugged the opposition.
