*Chile: Since the last World Cup — for which the Chileans did not qualify — the entire Chilean team has been restructured and remodeled after an incident involving “lewd groping” by the team during the 2007 Copa America.
http://nymag.com/daily/sports/2010/05/world_cup_preview_group_h.html
Thought when I read the headline that it was because their players had the habit of grabbing other guys’ junk in the wall, or when otherwise fighting for position. Instead, evidently six of them got trashed after a match in the 2007 Copa America and behaved so badly in their hotel room that the hotel filed an official complaint. Cite ,
From http://latinfootballworld.wordpress.com/ ,
Chile Slap Six With 20-Game Ban
Jorge Vargas, Pablo Contreras, Rodrigo Tello, Jorge Valdivia, Reinaldo Navia and Álvaro Ormeño were accused of attacking employees in the hotel restaurant, throwing food and insulting female guests. They are banned for 20 games, will not receive any bonus payments due from this Copa America and they can never captain their country, the FA said in a statement.
An official later said the players could appeal to reduce the punishment after sitting out 10 games.
The Chilean players were given time off to relax on July 5 after their 0-0 draw with Mexico ensured them a quarter final tie against Brazil. However, things got out of hand and the hotel lodged an official complaint at the players’ behaviour.
Worst was to come for the Chileans on the field as Brazil humiliated them 6-1 and knocked them out the competition.
The news was particularly harmful to Reinaldo Navia. Chilean news reports said his club Colo-Colo had decided not to renew his contract because of the incident and were looking for a replacement in Argentina.
1 CommentFiled under UncategorizedJULY 11, 2007
BLOG AT WORDPRESS.COM . | THEME: PRESSROW BY CHRIS PEARSON.
I found it hard to find other accounts of the story.
This is the most complete account of the story that I could find in English:
Some of [the players] became drunk, according to hotel employees, and caused damage to rooms and insulted bystanders, particularly women, as detailed in this article from the Spanish news agency EFE. A female hotel worker who declined to be identified appeared on Chile’s Channel 13 and said the players “showed a lack of respect for a woman who works in the kitchen and for a cleaning lady with very crude words”, which, she went on to say, included some graphic remarks.
Story here: Today's Harsh Reaction: Chile - The New York Times [the EFE article to which this story linked is no longer available, and my Spanish isn’t good enough to locate it].