FIFA Validates Mexico Confed Results

Football's world ruling body FIFA on Friday validated Mexico's recent results in the Confederation Cup following the mini scandal caused by two of their players being thrown out of the competition. Salvador Carmona and Aaron Galindo were kicked out of the competition by Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe on Tuesday, with rumors abounding that the duo had tested positive for nandrolone. Franz Beckenbauer, the chief of Germany's 2006 World Cup committee, later claimed he was told by FIFA president Sepp Blatter that drug taking had nothing to do with the scandal. On Friday, a FIFA statement said that all subsequent doping tests had turned out to be negative: "In compliance with its Doping Control Regulations, FIFA has carried out doping tests on two players per team after each of the matches in the FIFA Confederations Cup 2005. All 48 tests conducted after the first twelve matches, including those on six Mexican players who were tested in Germany, have proved negative. It is understood that the Mexican football association (FMF) conducted doping tests in Mexico before the start of the FIFA Confederations Cup. According to the Mexican football association's initial report,
which has yet to be completed, two players, Aaron Galindo and Salvador Carmona, tested positive. The Mexican association therefore ordered the two players to return home on Wednesday, 22 June 2005, citing disciplinary problems. Neither Galindo nor Carmona were among the six players drawn to undergo official doping tests at the FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany."