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Happy new year 2012
HAMISH BIDWELL
All Whites captain Tim Brown has refused to condemn the five Mexican national team players suspended for taking performance-enhancing drugs.
The quintet – goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, defenders Javier Rodriguez and Edgar Duenas and midfield players Antonio Naelson and Christian Burmudez – have been suspended by their football federation after testing positive to the banned stimulant clenbuterol.
Mexico beat the Brown-led New Zealand team 3-0 in their international friendly at Denver's Mile High Stadium on June 2, running rings around the All Whites at times.
The Mexican federation did not release details about when the positive tests were returned but clenbuterol is used to treat breathing problems, which was something Brown said his team suffered from playing at Denver's high altitude.
"I'm telling you, for like 10 minutes you can't get your breath and your throat's burning. It's a horrible feeling," Brown said.
Suspicious as he is, Brown is prepared to give the Mexican players the benefit of the doubt. For now.
"You would like to think there's more to this story than them just going 'we're going to straight out cheat'. That would be my first reaction," the Wellington Phoenix midfielder said.
"We get tested all the time in the A-League, for instance, and I would've thought the odds are that you're going to get caught. It almost seems a bit silly.
"I can only assume there must be some significant advantage for them to take that risk."
All he knows for sure is that Mexico were on a different plane to the All Whites that night.
"It was interesting they didn't test us," a chuckling Brown said.
"You can out that one in the story."
Three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador is probably the highest-profile athlete to test positive to clenbuterol. The Spanish cyclist blamed the positive result on contaminated meat and his initial ban was overturned this year.
- The Dominion Post
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