Internationals 
/ Michael Lintorn / 10 June 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa is one of five players that tested positive
"Mexican Football Federation general secretary Decio de Maria is optimistic that those involved will ultimately be proven innocent."
Five Mexico players have been sent home from the Gold Cup after testing positive for Clenbuterol, but the incident hasn't affected their form.
Contaminated meat has been blamed for the fact that five Mexico players failed drug tests, with the revelation that Guillermo Ochoa, Francisco Rodriguez, Edgar Duenas, Sinha and Christian Bermudez had tested positive for Clenbuterol breaking hours before their second Gold Cup game against Cuba.
The results of examinations carried out in May emerged on Thursday and the five stars linked with the banned substance were immediately suspended, though Mexican Football Federation general secretary Decio de Maria is optimistic that those involved will ultimately be proven innocent.
He has pointed to problem in Mexico that threatened to blight the upcoming Pan American Games, whereby there was said to be high Clenbuterol content in beef increasing the risk of unintentional doping and has confirmed that will be taken into account when the situation is investigated.
You'd be forgiven for expecting the controversy to disrupt Mexico's progress in America, especially as Ochoa and Rodriguez had started their opener, however they went out and thumped Cuba by the same 5-0 margin that El Salvador suffered on Sunday. The victory secured their spot in the quarter-finals and took Javier Hernandez's tournament tally up to five. They are [1.81] favourites to win it.
This is the second drug test-related incident in the space of a fortnight, with Kolo Toure receiving a six-month ban late last month after traces of a specific substance were found in the Ivorian's sample.
The defender blamed water tablets belonging to his wife for the results and that was a factor in handing him a relatively light punishment that allows him to return in September. By contrast, Rio Ferdinand had to sit out for eight months - missing Euro 2004 in the process - just for missing a test in 2003.
One of the biggest football drug scandals of recent years occurred in Serie A at the start of the century, with Jaap Stam, Fernando Couto and Edgar Davids testing positive for nandrolone. Pep Guardiola was also caught up in the drama but was later cleared.
Another famous moment saw Chelsea forward Adrian Mutu given a seven-month suspension by the FA after being found to have taken cocaine. The Blues axed the Romanian and have since sought compensation off of him for breach of contract.
David Luiz and Ramires were among the four Premier League players named in Mano Menezes' Brazil squad fighting to retain the Copa America next month....
Recent off-field controversies threatened to derail the France revival, but a 4-1 friendly triumph over Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine indicates that they are entering next summer in great shape....
France are ranked 52 places above their hosts on Thursday night, Poland, however the gap in class might not look quite so steep come the final whistle....
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