Banned Guerrero gets support from rivals
Sao Paulo, May 22: Captains of the three teams drawn to play Peru at the World Cup in Russia next month have appealed to Fifa to lift a ban on Paolo Guerrero, who was suspended after testing positive for cocaine.
Peru captain Guerrero was ruled out the finals last week after the Court of Arbitration for Sport increased from six months to 14 months a ban he received after testing positive for cocaine contained in a tea he drank.
France captain Hugo Lloris, Australia’s Mile Jedinak and Denmark skipper Simon Kjaer wrote to Fifa saying the ban was disproportionate given that CAS acknowledged Guerrero did not knowingly ingest cocaine or seek to gain an advantage.
“We respectfully ask the Fifa Council to show compassion,” Jedinak, Kjaer and Lloris said in a letter released by FIFPro, the world players’ union.
“In our view it would be plainly wrong to exclude him from what should be a pinnacle of his career.”
However, Guerrero’s hopes of winning an amnesty appeared to end on Tuesday after a meeting with Fifa president Gianni Infantino.
Infantino expressed “deep understanding” of the 34- year- old’s plight, Fifa said in a statement, but stressed that the sanction was imposed by sport’s highest tribunal following standard disciplinary procedure.
Guerrero will be barred from the World Cup, where Peru will be making their first appearance for 36 years, after testing positive for cocaine — contained in a tea — following the World Cup qualifier away to Argentina in October.
RUSSIA WORLD CUP
SQUAD CLEARED Meanwhile, Fifa also said it has found no evidence of doping among Russian players set to compete in the World Cup.
“Fifa can today confirm that the investigations concerning all Russian players named for the provisional squad of the Fifa World Cup in Russia have been completed, with the result that insufficient evidence was found to assert an anti- doping rule violation,” it said in a statement, adding the World Anti- Doping Agency has agreed with its decision to close the cases.