By Emily Goddard
June 16 – The Five Mexican players kicked out of the Gold Cup after testing positive for clenbuterol have passed new tests according to the Mexican Football Federation (FMF).
As reported by insideworldfootball last week, goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, defenders Francisco Rodríguez and Edgar Dueñas, and midfielders Antônio Naelson and Christian Bermúdez were sent home on Thursday after testing positive for the banned substance in doping tests conducted by the University of California (UCLA) in Los Angeles, on May 21.
All five players were flown to the UCLA anti-doping laboratory and underwent further testing last Friday (June 10) in a bid to prove their innocence.
“The laboratory at UCLA has informed us that the tests made last Friday, June 10 on the five players were negative,” the FMF said in a statement.
The FMF, which did not say who commissioned the latest tests, has now asked for the B-samples from the original exams to be re-analysed.
FMF President Justino Compean said last week that the federation was doing all it could get the players pardoned, believing they had inadvertently ingested the clenbuterol in contaminated beef during a training camp in Mexico City.
On the pitch, title-holders Mexico have qualified for the quarter-finals with 17 available players since another left for home last week due to illness.
They are due to face Guatemala on Sunday (June 19).
The FMF had asked for an exception to CONCACAF rules so it could call up replacements for the five players but the ruling body is still waiting for an answer.
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