A scandal is brewing in Mexico. Days before the 2018 World Cup in Russia kicks off, several national team members were seen spending the night after the friendly against Scotland drinking and partying with the opposite gender.
The news broke out after a report in the Mexican magazine TV Notas titled “Thirty VIP escorts gave the TRI their real World Cup send-off with a 24-hour lock-in.”.
The report said that Mexico players:
Some of the players allegedly having fun at the party were: goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, defender Carlos Salcedo, midfielder Marco Fabian and the dos Santos brothers.
The Mexican Football Federation issued a statement the next day that didn’t condemn the players and its Secretary General was quoted as saying:
“A day off is a day off. They’re the risks you have with freedom.”
“We’ve just got to be clear that it’s a day off and they haven’t missed training or a team get-together.”
“The issue of values is a separate matter.”
This is not the first time something like this has happened. Back in 2011, eight members of Mexico’s Copa America squad were dropped after being accused of escort visits to their hotel rooms. Interestingly enough, Jonathan dos Santos was present there as well. Obviously, he hasn’t learned his lesson.
This is definitely not the news Mexico fans were hoping for. They believed their team had high aspirations this summer. Something like this can affect their private lives in a very negative way. An unhappy footballer is not a motivated footballer and an uninspired footballer is not a good footballer.
Mexico is due to play Denmark in its last friendly on Saturday before heading off to Russia where El Tri meet Germany in their first World Cup game on June 17. Their other two opponents are Sweden and South Korea. Mexico has made it out of the group in every World Cup since 1986. That streak might come to an end in 2018. If it does, don’t blame the escort service.
